Obliteration
by BellaSalvatore1918
Summary: Aeliana Barnes was just a normal teenager until the car accident that made her life take a complete one-eighty turn. Her parents ship her off to Mystic Falls for her junior year, but as soon as she arrives, she becomes a target for all things supernatural. But while there are evil creatures out to control her, there are also good ones that will protect her at all costs. Damon/OC
1. Regeneration

**Hello, everyone! I hope (for all those on spring break) that you're having a good vacation! If you're not on spring break and will be soon...well, enjoy it! I'm on spring break for the next week, thank GOD. No school until April 7th, I'm so happy and relaxed. But I'm still attempting to write, so I'm not going completely radio silent for the time being. **

**I did want to get this story out over this week, so I decided to just do it first. I'll start doing the highest voted new story that I have on my profile poll as soon as school ends. I came up with this story idea a long time after I put the poll up, so it would't be fair to add it on. **

**Anyways, this is a simple story...it won't be going off the episodes (it's a shocker, I know), but it will be _sort of _like TVD. No Elena, but most of the other characters. Completely different storyline, though. Except...there will be times when I use...I don't know, _events _and stuff that they use in certain episodes. I hope that makes sense...**

**So, enjoy! Please leave a review at the end if at all possible. **

**Disclaimer: Only saying this once. I do not own TVD or any of its characters/story lines. I do, however, own my OCs, my writing, and my own plot line.**

* * *

_"The essence of a tragedy, or even of a serious play, is the spiritual awakening, or regeneration, of the hero."**  
**_

_-Maxwell Anderson_

* * *

**Regeneration**

_Malibu, California_

_June 2009_

"Aeliana!"

Aeliana Barnes abruptly turned her head from looking inside of the locker to see her best friend, Sarah Rivers, sprinting towards her, fighting the opposing crowd of Preston Wood Academy students. It took Sarah less than a minute to get to her, though she was panting incessantly.

"You will _not _believe what just happened," Sarah breathed.

Aeliana put her French textbook back in her locker and grabbed her English textbook instead so she could take it home. "Let me guess," Aeliana began as she fit the textbook into her backpack and closed the top. "There's another _unbelievably _cool party that I should _totally _go to, right?" she teased pointedly, closing her locker and putting the messenger bag on her closest shoulder.

As they walked with the crowd to the academy's exit doors, Sarah spoke, "_Yes, _but this time, it's different!"

"Of course it is," Aeliana chuckled, finding amusements in Sarah's efforts to get her to go to these types of things. There was a party every single week—after all, it _was _Malibu. But they were all the same—Aeliana had experience. At the beginning of the year, their sophomore year, she and Sarah had gone to over a dozen parties in the span of just a month. After the first semester, Aeliana found herself bored of the same scene over and over again; plus, despite her parents' absence, they had made it a point to express their distaste for all the parties she went to. So, eventually, she got into the habit of letting Sarah go alone.

"No, Aeliana, it is," Sarah insisted. "It's Mike Douglass's party over at his dad's place in Los Angeles," she explained, barely breathing. Oddly, her voice was nothing more than a whisper. "It's going to be _huge_."

Aeliana sighed. "Sarah, it's Tuesday."

Sarah frowned. "Yeah, and tomorrow's Wednesday. What's your point?"

"My point is," began Aeliana, "It's the end of the year. I have an English final tomorrow. Plus, I have a _lot _of homework. I don't have _time _to go to a party, and even if I did, I wouldn't want to go. They're all the same," she justified.

Sarah groaned as they pushed open the doors of the school and walked out into the warm air. "_Not _this one, I swear! Come on, live a little!"

"You know what happens to people who 'live a little'?" Aeliana asked her friend pointedly. "They go to a party, they get drunk off their _ass, _and then something bad happens."

"Like _what_?"

"Rape. Murder. Social suicide," Aeliana offered with a shrug, earning a disapproving glance from Sarah.

"Morbid," the girl said simply, narrowing her eyes in disgust. Aeliana shot her friend a taunting glare. Eventually, Sarah sighed. "Come on, you don't have the final until the end of the day, you can go to the party and study at lunch or something," she suggested.

Aeliana sighed out of frustration. "Look, just…go for the both of us," she proposed, pulling Sarah to a stop outside. Sarah exhaled largely, defeated, but not all that happy about it. "I _really _have to get home now, okay?"

Sarah, who wasn't happy about the turn of events at all, eventually gave in. "Fine," she grumbled. "Fine, I'll call you later."

"Bye."

"Bye."

And, with that part from her friend, Aeliana turned and walked to her car, a 2008 BMW M3. The car had been a gift for her seventeenth birthday the week before. It hadn't been a big deal; it was mostly just a dinner with her family and her friends. Even her Aunt Katie from all the way across the country had flown out to see her. Katie was from somewhere in Virginia, a town called Mystic Falls. It was a tiny town that she had never been to before, where all of the people knew everyone's names by heart. It was the exact opposite in Malibu—you were lucky to even know who your neighbors were.

She threw in her bag first so that it landed in the passenger seat, and then she climbed into the driver's side and shut the door of her car. Before she even started the engine, she reached into the glove compartment and grabbed her sunglasses to shield her hazel eyes from the oncoming sunlight. Aeliana straightened herself and turned the key into the ignition.

Through the darkened lenses, she saw something peculiar in front of her. Across the street, there was a single man, standing on the sidewalk, completely motionless while the people around him moved in different directions. A look of confusion crossed across Aeliana's face as she received the strangest feeling that the person across the street was staring at…_her_.

To get a better view of the man to ease her worries, Aeliana took off her sunglasses to look through untainted vision.

But when she could see freshly through her own sight, she found that the motionless man was no longer in her sight.

* * *

"Aeliana." Stilling the pencil that she tapped against her mouth, Aeliana looked up to see her mom open the door carefully and, seeing that the teenager was only doing homework, pushed the door wide open. Her mother, Camilla Barnes, was wearing a long and beautiful forest-green colored gown. Her long, extremely dark-colored hair had been pinned into a sophisticated bun around her head, like she'd always had it whenever Aeliana's parents went to an important work-related event. "We're just about to leave."

"Okay," agreed the young woman's daughter with a small smile against the pencil that was stilled on her lips. "Have fun."

"Fun?" another voice interrupted, and Aeliana's father peered through the threshold of her room. Nathan Barnes was dressed up as well, wearing a classic tuxedo with his hair slicked back. He played with the expensive watch on his arm as he spoke, "It's work. Nothing but old men with twenty-year-old women on their arms trying to schmooze the company into getting them a good deal." Her father smirked.

"It's better than homework," Aeliana offered, gesturing to the heaps of paper that surrounded her as she studied for her last finals of the year.

"On the contrary"—Nathan walked into the room and gave his daughter a goodbye kiss on her forehead—"I'd rather be doing homework again." He sighed and turned to his wife with a smile. "Never _ever _thought I'd say that." Nathan turned back to Aeliana. "Be good," he commanded, pointing a finger at her.

"Okay, I will."

With a small smile, her father walked out of the room, leaving her mother by the door. "Don't overwork yourself, sweetheart," Camilla suggested softly.

"I won't," Aeliana answered, giving her mother a small agreeing smile. With a counter grin, Camilla turned and closed the door on her way out. A minute or so later, Aeliana could hear the garage open and close as sign of her parents leaving the house to go to their charity event.

This wasn't the first time they left to go to some extravagant event in the middle of the week at seven o'clock at night. Actually, it was far from just the first time. Aeliana's parents worked at the same corporation, Ashton & Co. While her father was the CEO of the company, her mother had taken over her housewife job at the workplace, being his assistant. At least three times a month, they both went out to these types of things—her mother either going as Nathan's wife or Nathan's assistant, it depended on the event. Most of the times, it happened on the weekends, but there were those few rare occasions, that really weren't so rare, that they went out at seven o'clock on a week night and didn't come back until three o'clock in the morning the next day.

It was almost two hours after her parents left, approaching nine o'clock, when Aeliana realized that she needed sleep as much as she needed to study. So, finally, after putting away her textbooks and notebooks with that common weary feeling that she knew nothing of what she'd been studying, Aeliana walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower so that the water would heat. In the meantime, she pulled the hair tie out of her long and soft auburn-colored, naturally blonde-streaked hair and ran her fingers through it to shake it out. She stripped out of the clothes she had been in all day and walked over to the shower, where the hot water cleansed and relaxed her.

She took a quick shower, only lasting about 15-20 minutes, and then she turned off the water and grabbed the towel that was swung over the glass door. She dried herself quickly, though her hair remained damp, and Aeliana opened the glass door and walked out of the shower.

She was just about to change when her phone rang—the phone that she had left on her nightstand while she showered.

"Hello?" Aeliana answered, still wrapped in a towel with her hair dripping water that would dry soon enough.

"_Aeliana," _someone wailed over the other side of the phone. It was Sarah, Aeliana immediately noted. _"Do you think you could come and pick me up?" _

Aeliana shut her eyes. There was no doubt in her mind that Sarah was drunk, she could just _tell _over the phone. Her words had slurred together and she sounded like she was easily distracted—two of the greatest signs that her friend was the farthest thing from sober.

But she had to think about this. First of all, what kind of a friend would she be if she just let her drunken best friend find her own way home? Or, worse, what if Sarah tried to _drive _home? There was a chance she'd get home okay, but there was always the chance of her _not _getting home okay, either.

And her parents _were _gone for the night, or a couple hours, at least. Los Angeles was a little less than an hour away. She could get there, pick Sarah up, get her back home, and get herself back home by eleven, which would give her enough time to sleep.

Actually, she couldn't find a reason to deny Sarah's request. Any excuse wouldn't be worth risking her best friend's safety.

"Fine," Aeliana agreed, nodding. "Text me the address. Just give me a couple minutes to change and I'll come pick you up. _Don't _do anything until I get there," she demanded.

"_I won't_," Sarah breathed out, her voice slurring in the slightest. _Definitely drunk, _Aeliana thought as she hung up the phone and put it down on the bed.

Quickly, she changed, into the first pair of shorts she stumbled across and the first shirt that she thought had the potential of matching. Honestly, it didn't even matter, but she didn't want to go pick Sarah up in her pajamas, either. Within minutes, she was out the door and on her way to Los Angeles.

With moments of denying the speed limit and rarely any traffic at the hour of the night, Aeliana managed to get to Los Angeles within the range of forty to fifty minutes. Though Sarah's text message had a few extra characters that didn't make sense, Aeliana succeeded at figuring out where the party was located. It wasn't hard after she got up the road where the party was located. There were cars all up the street, and the music was blasting louder than a typical Los Angeles nightclub would be playing. Normally, it might've been a problem because of neighbors and things, but apparently, Mike Douglass's dad lived in a mansion out in the middle of nowhere.

When Aeliana pulled up to the front of the house, she saw Sarah standing in the driveway with a bunch of other kids. The entire lawn was a mess, and Aeliana could only hope that Mike had some sort of cleaning crew to help with the morning after. Though obviously intoxicated, Sarah looked as well as a sober person. Sure, her eyes were a little swollen, but not a strand of her pale blonde hair had been messed out of place, and, regarding her clothes, she looked like she had just stepped her own house less than ten minutes ago.

Aeliana parked the car in front of the driveway and climbed out of it, careful of the surrounding cars that were stilled, coming, or going. Through the crowd of drunken teenagers, Aeliana fought her way to Sarah, who recognized her immediately.

"Aeliana!" Sarah exclaimed when she saw her friend from a ways away. Immediately, the blonde sixteen-year-old rushed over to her friend. "Let's get you a drink!" she slurred happily.

Aeliana shook her head. "Come on, Sarah, let's go home," she said, pulling her friend in a different direction than the blonde actually wanted to go.

"Let's stay," suggested a tilting Sarah.

Aeliana straightened the teenager. "Seriously, Sarah, come on. We need to leave. You're drunk."

"Over my ass," Sarah giggled in agreement. Aeliana wasn't amused—she needed to get both of them home before anything stupid happened. Seeing Aeliana's unimpressed face, Sarah sighed. "You're such a Debbie Downer." Sarah turned around. "Guys, let's go!"

To Aeliana's surprise, two boys actually responded to Sarah's call. The both of them she recognized, by face only. Devin and Seth Peters walked out of the crowd, both of them drunk and stumbling over each other. The two were the most popular siblings in school—Devin was a junior and Seth was a senior. Like any high school boys, both of them thought they were the best of the best, and so did everyone else but a select few.

Aeliana was one of those few, and she thought Sarah was, as well. Which is why she spoke with sheer confusion, "What's this?" Aeliana asked as Devin and Seth approached the two of them and stood, waiting.

"Well, they need a ride, too," Sarah explained. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Yes, I mind!" Aeliana hissed. "Sarah, I came here to take _you _home, _not _two random boys from our school!"

"We're not random, beautiful," Seth slurred drunkenly, smiling at her. Aeliana ignored him. "We had Sports Medicine last semester together…right?"

Aeliana brought her eyes up to Seth's. "You mean Theatre Arts?" she corrected.

Seth snapped. "Right! That class."

Aeliana rolled her eyes and looked back at Sarah. "I'm not taking them home. I have to get back before my parents come home."

Sarah waved her hand, brushing it off. "You'll be home by midnight."

"I also have to _sleep_! Don't you remember? Finals are tomorrow," Aeliana countered.

Devin groaned beside her. "Who _cares_? Finals are dumb, all they show is that we can memorize all of the information they give to us. We'll just forget it next year," he said insightfully, though he was still drunk.

"You don't really want them to _drive _themselves home, do you?" Sarah said with a slight pout. Aeliana sighed heavily, slightly frustrated as she realized that Sarah hit her weak spot. Now that she'd said something, Aeliana couldn't let the boys drive home. If something happened to them, she knew it'd be her fault. "Come on, they don't live too far from my house. Ten minutes, tops."

Aeliana looked at Seth and Devin, who were now laughing as if they'd heard the funniest joke in the world. The two of them were nearly stumbling into everyone in their paths, and Aeliana realized that she had to do the right thing, despite her own needs. "Fine," she agreed, her voice barely a mumble.

Sarah gave a mouse-like squeak. "You're the best!" The blonde surged forward and pulled Aeliana into a huge hug. Aeliana didn't know _why _she was doing this, all she was agreeing to was saving two brothers from getting into a car and making the dumbest decision of their lives. "Come on, guys!" And Sarah took off for the car, the two brothers trailing her. Aeliana reluctantly followed the trio of intoxicated students.

It wasn't long before they were on the road, driving up the coast that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. Seth sat in the passenger seat while Sarah and Devin sat in the back. Humid rain poured on the windshield, but the wipers cleared the glass so Aeliana could see the slim road with absolutely no margin for errors of any kind.

It also wasn't long before Aeliana spotted Sarah and Devin in an extremely sloppy, drunken lip-lock in her backseat. She rolled and averted her eyes from the sight, sighing and leaning her head against her hand as she relaxed in her seat. With a glance to the clock, she could see that it was approaching eleven fifteen.

_So much for a good night's sleep, _Aeliana thought bitterly.

"You were always the quiet one in the back, weren't you?" Seth said abruptly, pulling Aeliana's attention to him.

"Excuse me?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and turning her head to him. Seth was leaning towards her, over the center console, his eyes clouded by the alcohol intoxication.

"In Theatre Arts," he clarified. "Aeliana Barnes, I remember you."

"How wonderful for you," Aeliana muttered, running a hand through her hair, hoping the conversation was done with at this point.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Seth's hand moved closer to her, slowly moving from the top of the console towards her side of it. "It's a shame you hole yourself up with a body like that," he murmured, his voice extremely low and husky.

Aeliana sighed. "You're drunk," she told him, exasperated. Seth's lips only turned up into a smile in the darkness of the car. "Just…try and get some sleep or something," she offered, reaching forward and raising the volume of the radio an inch so she didn't feel so uncomfortable.

"I think I have a better idea." And, it was at that moment when Aeliana felt Seth's hand slowly move onto her thigh, just by her knee.

"What are you doing?" Aeliana mumbled, looking down to see his hand on her leg. "Stop." But she didn't need to see it to realize that it was moving up, towards its target. "Stop it, Seth! What the _hell—_"

It was all a blur after that.

She had been looking down at her leg to see Seth's hand finding its way in the darkness, but then she brought her eyes up and saw the shadow of a human man in the middle of the road. With a quick and idiotic reflex, she swerved out of the way.

And that's how the accident began.

The heavy car tumbled over itself, rolling once and twice, the windows crashing and metal compressing. The car skidded across the road until it finally slowed on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the heavy tide of the ocean as the rain added to the large body of water.

Everything went still.

It was a few seconds after the car had come to a complete stop when Aeliana managed to open her eyes, only to find that she was upside down. The car was wavering on the cliff, and she knew that she didn't have a lot of time before it went off.

Though she was lucky enough to be alive, she wasn't so sure about the rest.

With a quivering breath, Aeliana tried to get herself out of the vehicle before it tumbled into the large body of water that rested beneath the car. Since it was so late, there were practically no cars on the road—and even if there were, the ambulance couldn't get to them fast enough before the car fell.

Her hand found the belt buckle that constricted her to the car, and with a hand bracing her head on the roof of the car that was right near her face, Aeliana managed to get the belt to click and she instantly fell backwards. Luckily, the hand that braced herself on the roof kept her from snapping her own neck, and she landed safely.

Well, maybe not _so _safely.

Aeliana screamed when she fell onto the roof, letting out a cry from the pain that jolted through her arm. She knew right then and there that she had a broken bone somewhere in her left arm; that was for sure. The blood from her body rushed to her head and she felt herself grow dizzy from the distortion. And there was definitely blood dripping down her forehead, she could feel it.

But there was no time to think about that. The car began to waver—even more so now. She could feel it wobble between stability on land and thin air that didn't brace her car at all.

_I have to get out, _she thought desperately, and looked to the side in the darkness. The front and back windows of the driver's side were both smashed, shards of glass coating the pavement around them. But there was no time to dwell on such small injuries when she was facing a certain death if she didn't get out of the car.

Everyone else seemed to be dead beside her, or unconscious. Aeliana couldn't see Sarah, but she couldn't hear her, either—which wasn't a good sign. It seemed like she was the only one who was actually conscious in the car.

The car wavered on the cliff if she even moved the slightest inch in the direction of the window, but it was on her favor. But she _knew_, from ten years of science classes, that gravity wouldn't hold the car up any longer if she got out of it and the rest of them stayed inside. Sarah's weight wouldn't be enough to hold the side that anchored to the actual ground.

Her best friend would fall to her most certain death.

_No, _Aeliana thought, choking back a hard swallow. With whatever consciousness she had left, she tried to locate a body limb of Sarah's, and eventually found on. A hand. It rested right beside the broken window—the pale hand coated with a dark, thick substance. Despite its injuries, Aeliana grabbed her friend's hand and held onto it as tight as she could while she weaseled her way out of the totaled car, her breaths heavy and her heart pounding hard in her ears.

Lucky for her, she was able to get out of the car without falling off the cliff first, grabbing Sarah's hand and yanking the heavy, limp body out with her. Through blurry vision, Aeliana watched as her car wobbled for just a split second and then flipped completely over the cliff, taking Devin and Seth Peters along with it.

"Sarah," Aeliana breathed aloud, finally finding that she could project words, no matter how soft they came out. She was practically holding Sarah's body in her hands, faintly seeing the red substance that oozed out of her friend's head and soaked the pavement. Aeliana shook Sarah once with all the strength she could muster.

"Sarah."

No response.

Aeliana placed two fingers on a pulse and tried to focus, but she couldn't find one.

"Sarah."

No response.

"Sarah!" Aeliana found her eyes wet with salty tears that she couldn't stop. She saw her friend, lit up by the moonlight and the dim streetlights that lighted the road for the cars that drove on the coast. Sarah was dead, she could see that—even with the dim light. Her eyes were closed and blood oozed from everywhere possible. There was no pulse, there was no sign of life.

Her best friend was dead.

It took Aeliana a moment to realize—and in that moment of sheer denial, she found herself crying over her friend's body. If only things had gone differently…maybe they wouldn't be in this situation. If she had taken a stand against Sarah, if she had told Seth and Devin to find their own ride home…would things have gone differently?

She didn't know. No one would know. Sarah was dead, and that's how she would stay.

Aeliana, for the time being, cried over Sarah's damaged body, letting her tears drip onto Sarah's body. Her warm hand held her friend's cold one, trying to hold on.

That's when it happened.

There was a sensation that coursed through her—a sensation that she couldn't describe. It was like a thunderbolt had stricken her entire body…in a _good _way. She could feel the tingling power vibrate from the very tips of her fingers to the tips of her toes and the tips of her hair.

And then she could feel it drain, like it was transferring somewhere. The vibration began to pull away from her body and pooled itself in the pads of her fingers, where it left her body and went into another's. Her tears had slowed now—all she could focus on was the feeling in her body. It was paralyzing, but in an exhilarating kind of way.

She didn't even notice when a pair of headlights had stopped on the cliff, stilling at the sight of the two girls in the middle of the road covered in blood and shards of glass. The couple who had found them immediately called the ambulance the second they saw the sight of the teenagers, but Aeliana was too preoccupied. She was barely aware of her surroundings.

The vibration was slowing now, slowly leaving her fingertips by the second. It was draining her, as if a needle had taken all of the energy in her body out.

The second the last vibration moved through her was the second that her head hit the concrete.

* * *

"Honey…"

Aeliana could feel herself coming towards consciousness as the moment progressed. There wasn't enough energy in her to pull open her eyes.

"Wake up, sweetheart."

The voice was a sob—her mother's. The first voice, she realized, had been her father's. Still, she could not open her eyes, but her hearing improved by the second.

"She should be waking up any minute now," a new voice said—one that she didn't find familiar. "When she's had a few minutes of consciousness, we're going to need to test her. Make sure there isn't any brain damage. From the test results, it looks like it shouldn't be an issue."

_Test results? _Aeliana thought skeptically, but then she remembered.

_Sarah. _

Aeliana forced her eyes open, and to her surprise, they listened to the command. Though it felt like she had forced them open to her, in reality, to her parents, it looked like she slowly began to adjust—blinking quite a few times before finally arriving to full consciousness. Aeliana saw terrible fluorescent lighting hanging above her, and there were people surrounding her head. At least three—maybe four. Her mom, her dad, that unfamiliar voice that unsurprisingly belonged to a doctor, and a woman—a nurse—that monitored a machine beside her.

_Where am I? _the teenager thought to herself, but she realized quickly that she was most certainly in a hospital machine. It wasn't the EKG machine beside her that gave it away, surprisingly enough, but it was the memory of getting into that car accident that made her understand.

"Hi," someone said unsurely to her, and Aeliana moved her head to see the doctor smiling down at her. "You're awake now, sweetie. Can you speak?"

Aeliana found her voice groggy, but she managed to do what she was told, "Yes."

The doctor smiled. "Good," she praised. "And, obviously you can hear, which is good. How's your vision. How many fingers do you see?"

Aeliana waited as the doctor put up her hand and her vision adjusted. Though the image before her was a little blurred, she saw the doctor's hand clearly. "Four," she responded.

"Very good," commended the doctor. "Do you know who you are?"

Aeliana swallowed. "Aeliana…Aeliana Barnes," she said tiredly.

"And what about these people beside you, Aeliana?"

Aeliana looked beside her to see her parents, waiting for her answer with clear anxious anticipation. "My parents," she said, nodding. Her mother was on the verge of tears and her father looked like he hadn't slept in days. Aeliana moved her head and looked at the doctor. "I was in a car accident, wasn't I?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes, you were. You and your friend."

"Sarah," Aeliana breathed, shaking her head despite the pain. "Sarah…where…where is she? Can I see her? Is she okay—?" She tried to get up, but everyone pushed her back down without even blinking.

"Miss Rivers is _fine,"_ the doctor assured her. Aeliana looked at the doctor, astounded. "She's suffered some minor injuries, but they're healing nicely. You two are very lucky."

Aeliana thought for a moment, thinking over the doctor's words. _No, _she thought. _Sarah was dead, I felt her pulse! There was none, she was dead! She was dead!_

But she couldn't very well say that aloud, could she?

"I…I don't understand," Aeliana murmured, her expression still. "She's…_alive_?"

"Yes," the doctor answered with a curt nod. "She has around the same amount of small injuries as you. Although you seem to have the least of you both."

Aeliana looked down at her body, but she found herself confused when she saw no casts on her arm or anywhere else, for that matter. She was _sure _she'd broken her arm. Aeliana looked back up at the doctor. "My arm…it's not broken?" she asked, puzzled.

The doctor pursed her lips and shook her head. "Not at all. It's fine. You suffered from a mild concussion and some external bleeding. There were only a couple other minor injuries. I would like to keep you and Miss Rivers for observation over the next day or so, just to make sure the concussion wasn't more than it looked like," the doctor noted with a nod to her parents, who nodded right back. The doctor looked back at Aeliana with a slight smile. "But, other than that, Miss Barnes, you and your friend were _very _lucky." She looked up at Aeliana's parents. "I'll leave you three to talk," said the doctor before she left the room with the nurse who stood beside the machines.

"How do you feel, honey?" Nathan asked, walking over to Aeliana and reaching out to touch her hair. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

"I'm fine, Dad," Aeliana told him, her hazel eyes signalizing her seriousness. And…she _was _fine—externally. Internally…not so much. "How…long have I been here?"

"A couple hours," Camilla responded immediately. Aeliana's eyes roamed over her mother's normal clothes and, seeing the gesture, Camilla answered her unspoken question. "After we received the phone call about you and Sarah, we came straight to the hospital, but they told us that you both weren't going to be conscious for a few hours. Your father and I went home to change before we came back," she clarified. Aeliana nodded. "Sweetie, what _happened_ out there?"

Aeliana thought back to the accident…to Seth's hand on her thigh, and then the man in the road, and then her hand jerking the wheel to the right. It was all a blur, but it was a _painful _blur. Aeliana winced thinking about it. "I…I don't know, it happened so fast." She looked up at her parents. "There was a man in the middle of the road. I swerved and we flipped," she told them for lack of a better explanation.

"Why'd you leave the house in the first place?" Nathan asked promptly. "They said that they found traces of alcohol in Sarah's blood, but none in yours. Was she driving the car?"

"No." Aeliana shook her head. "No, I was. She called me from the party and asked me to pick her up, so I did. But…there were these guys that she wanted me to take home, too, and…they were drunk. If I didn't give them a ride, I was worried that they'd hop in a car themselves and…" Aeliana trailed off and gave a light, bitter chuckle. "_Crash_," she said ironically.

Though her mother had a touched look on her face, Camilla shook her head. "Sweetie, that isn't your responsibility. You can't clean up everyone's messes."

"I know, I just…" Aeliana breathed out heavily. "She's my best friend." _And she's alive, _she added, bewilderment tracing her thoughts. _But she was dead when I pulled her out of that car. _

Nathan and Camilla looked like they were both ready to start an argument, but this wasn't the time or the place for that to happen. With a sigh, Nathan just leaned down and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Aeliana shut her eyes. _But I wasn't, _she thought. _I had a broken arm…Sarah was dead! _She opened her eyes and her father pulled away, turning to her mother for a brief moment. While they talked, Aeliana let her eyes roam around the hospital outside, and she saw something odd in one of the windows across the hall.

_Sarah, _Aeliana thought, raising her eyebrows. Sarah was in the other room, surrounded by her parents and her brother, conscious. After a few moments, her family said their goodbyes to Sarah and left the room for a brief moment—probably to go to the cafeteria.

And that gave Aeliana an idea.

"Could I…get some food?" Aeliana asked hopefully, pulling Camilla and Nathan's attention from each other onto her.

"Of course," Camilla nodded, her black hair moving along her shoulders. "Nathan, let's go see if the nurses will let her eat." And, with that, her mother pulled her father out of the room and they disappeared down the hallway. Aeliana waited a few moments before looking down and finding herself relieved at the fact that there weren't a lot of needles hooked up to different machines. There was a blood pressure cuff on her upper arm, an IV needle in her arm, and an oximeter hooked up to the EKG machine that tied her to the room. One by one, she took the pieces of medical equipment off of her—starting with the oximeter, then the IV, and finally the blood pressure cuff. The EKG machine beside her flat lined, and she realized that she didn't have a lot of time before one of the nurses noticed.

Through the midst of emergencies that took place in this upper class Malibu hospital, Aeliana managed to somehow get across the hallway and into Sarah's room, where her friend was lying on the hospital bed, watching the television that had been left on for her.

"Sarah," Aeliana greeted, closing the door behind her. Sarah turned her head to see Aeliana, and her lips turned up in the faintest smile.

"Aeliana," she said, her voice small. The doctor was right—here Sarah was, actually alive and well. Aeliana couldn't believe her eyes.

But she didn't want to think about it. All that mattered was that Sarah was _here, _she was alive. She was actually _alive. _She hadn't lost her best friend, no matter how she looked at it.

"I'm _so _happy you're okay," Aeliana breathed out, fighting the tears that threatened at her eyes as she walked towards Sarah's bed.

"I am, too," she agreed, watching as Aeliana came over. Aeliana found herself joyful of the situation. Her best friend was _alive. _No matter what she thought had become of the petite blonde before, it didn't matter now. Sarah was _alive. _

Aeliana reached out and touched Sarah's hand generously, the corners of her eyes tearing with happiness. A vibration coursed through her, filling her with a gracious pleasure.

But, in the next moment, it was all ripped away from her.

Sarah took her hand out from underneath of Aeliana's and sat straight up, ripping out her IV and all of the other machines she was hooked up to—about two more than Aeliana had been. "Get away from me!" she screamed, tears overthrowing Sarah's eyes. She began to trash back and forth, and Aeliana found herself cringing back at the sight. She stepped back and watched with horrid eyes as her best friend began to scream and shout, cowering in her own corner and yelling at her to leave. It was then when the nurses burst into the room, one of them suddenly aware of Aeliana's presence. The commotion in the room became known to the hallway, where all the nurses and doctors peered in to see what the problem was. Aeliana soon found herself removed from the room and her parents had come back with a nurse and a tray of food.

"Aeliana, what happened?" Her mother asked, grabbing her daughter's arm lightly.

Aeliana stared into the room, her expression blank. "I…I have no idea."

* * *

"_They moved her to the heavily secured section of the hospital," _Nathan told Camilla outside of Aeliana's room. Aeliana listened in on the conversation with curious intents. Had _she _been the cause of Sarah's breakdown? _"They don't know what happened, she just…snapped. It's not looking good. The doctors won't let anyone see her from now on."_

Aeliana heard her mother sigh heavily. _"Do you think Aeliana had anything to do with it?" _

Nathan, in return, sighed to Camilla. _"Who knows? But she was the one in the room before Sarah had her breakdown. I think they're taking Sarah in for a CAT scan later on to figure out what's going on." _

Aeliana turned her head. She didn't know what the _hell _had happened back there. One moment, everything was fine, and in the next, her best friend was screaming at her and thrashing back and forth. All she'd done was touch…

That was it.

Aeliana felt herself stiffen against the door that she leaned against for leverage during her eavesdropping. The vibrations that she felt in her hand…well, that was less than _normal, _obviously. What if it was _that_? What if…she had done something?

_I'm a freak, _Aeliana nearly wailed in her thoughts, but she knew there was only one way to test it out. Sarah had died and her touch had made her both come back alive and have a mental breakdown.

So…what did that mean?

Aeliana suddenly caught the sight of a plant in the corner of her eye. When taking a closer look at it, she could see that it was a _dead _plant—with almost purple leaves, signalizing that the flowers needed to be replaced. Leaving her place at the door, she walked over to the plant and inhaled.

_Don't work_, she commanded herself. _Please. Don't. Work. _

But the vibration was unstoppable. The second she thought about doing what she was about to do, the sensation coursed through her in a paralyzing motion. Though she felt like her spine was jelly, she moved her hand forward and touched the plant, the sensation coursing further. Just like with Sarah, she could feel the energy drain from her fingertips.

And, realizing that what she was doing was completely ridiculous, she ripped her hand away from the plant and scoffed.

_What the hell am I doing? _

Shaking her head, Aeliana turned and walked back to the hospital bed, where she climbed into the covers and sighed. The nurses had taken her off the machines for a few minutes while she ate, but they would be back to put her in them again soon.

Against her better judgment, Aeliana turned her head to look at the plant that she had touched. Seeing what she saw before her, she let her breath catch as she stiffened.

The plant was now green and full of life, like it had never been dead in the first place.

* * *

**I am so proud of myself. That was completely AU and I wrote 6,000 words. Watch the next chapter be like 2,000 or something short like that. Just watch. **

**TVD characters come in the next chapter, and Damon comes in the chapter after that so...I hope you'll stick around to see it! Please review!**

**_Love, _  
**

**_BellaSalvatore1918_**

**_X_**


	2. Alteration

**This chapter took me like 4 days to complete, so I'm sorry for the wait. I got sidetracked and other things of that nature. Again, I'm really, really sorry. But this is an _eight thousand word chapter! _Eight thousand words! That may not seem like a lot, but for a (partially) AU story...YES. Hopefully, I can keep it up. **

**Enjoy! Our favorite character comes in at the end of this chapter/beginning of the next...**

**Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter.**

* * *

_"There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties or you alter yourself meeting them."_

_-Phyllis Bottome_

* * *

**Alteration**

_Mystic Falls, Virginia_

_September 2009_

The cool autumn air surrounded Aeliana as she stepped out of Aunt Katie's SUV with caution, examining the space around her. The car was pulled up to the curb the curb right in front of the quaint, mostly stereotypical suburban house. The structure was even complete with elegant-looking flowers on the bushes that grew weaker and weaker from the impending weather, but yet still survived under the generous sun. Aeliana expanded her view, looking around the street now. The property lines of the houses didn't escape her judgment—they were spaced out practically, yet still mushed together in the slightest.

"Get a good look, girl," Katie said from behind her, earning her niece's attention. Aeliana turned around to see her aunt smiling. "This is your more _fun, _yet still _temporary _home."

Aeliana tried her best to give a smile that amounted to Katie's 250-killowat one, but she just couldn't muster enough power. The last few months had been rough on the teenager, to say the _very _least. After all, that's what got her shipped to Mystic Falls—the quiet little town practically off the grid—in the first place.

It had been three months, the length of the entire summer, since the car accident that had turned everything upside down. Sarah's breakdown at the hospital ended up earning her a one-way ticket to the finest mental health facility in all of Malibu, where she would remain indefinitely. The doctors diagnosed it as a form of enhanced PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and they kindly "suggested" that Sarah undergo full-time care until (or, if) the situation could be fixed.

Really, Aeliana felt like _she _should be the one diagnosed with PTSD.

Ever since the accident…since that day at the hospital where she saw a plant return to life at her very touch, she had been avoiding it. She pushed it out of her mind every time it floated in, telling herself that she was _insane. _She tried to get the doctors to tell her that there was something wrong, but they insisted that there wasn't anything wrong with her. She tried to put on a brave face—to spend her summer with some of her other friends and get over the fact that she might've just put the signature on the paper that condemned her best friend to a mental facility.

But the more she tried to avoid everything, the more her parents began to question her sanity.

So, at an attempt to give Aeliana a fresh start, her parents had sat her down the week before and had given her a choice. She could either stay in Malibu, continue on with junior year as planned, or she could go to live with her Aunt Katie for the year and clear her head. Aeliana _wanted _to stay home, but the truth of the matter was, she was growing tired of her parents by the day. They pressured her, they smothered her, and they looked at her like she was a lost puppy dog. She was afraid that if she'd stayed, she wouldn't be able to handle it, and she would crack.

Despite how it may seem, Aeliana didn't regret choosing to live with Katie. It gave her what she needed to clear her head—to start fresh. She wouldn't think about the crash or the day at the hospital. Instead, she would think about what a _normal _teenage girl she was and finish this year of high school. Her parents had given her the option to ask to stay for senior year as well, but she told them that she'd tell them after the first year was up.

"Hey," Katie said, peaking out from the trunk to look at her niece. "You…uh…want to give me a hand over here with your bags?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry," Aeliana apologized, snapping out of her trance and moving out of the confinements of the car door so that she could shut it. Once it was closed, she moved to the trunk and helped with her things, taking her two suitcases and laptop bag while Katie grabbed her two boxes of necessities.

To be honest, she was looking forward to living with Katie. Katie was always one of her favorite relatives. She was young compared to everyone else—twenty-eight to be exact. Katie was Aeliana's father's stepsister, and they had an age difference of almost fifteen years. Every other relative in Aeliana's family were around the same age as her parents (in their early to late 40's) or older.

Katie had always been _that _kid in the family…or, rather, the screw-up. She married young, around twenty-two, and got divorced at twenty-four. Aeliana didn't know why she and her husband, Joshua, had gotten a divorce, and it was actually hard to believe that they had. Katie was beautiful, smart, fun, kind…the list went on and on. It was the reason that Aeliana admired her so much.

As she pulled her suitcases up the stairs, Aeliana caught sight of a window seat on the level that connected the second flight. It was decorated with throw pillows, and a sheer white curtain draped over the seat and was pushed slightly to the side. As Aeliana began to move up the staircase, she stared at the window seat, realizing that it was virtually the perfect spot.

"First door on the left," Katie called to Aeliana as they both made their way up the stairs of the house with Aeliana's things. Following the instructions, Aeliana curved up the stairs and continued up the light-colored hardwood steps. The upstairs level, though foreign to her, was nice and open, with a small sitting area by the banister and a table pushed up beside two doors. She turned to the left like her aunt had instructed, and sure enough, there was a door on the left side. With her free hand, she twisted it open to feel the crisp air of a neglected room.

Obviously, the room was furnished—complete with a four-poster queen bed and a matching oak nightstand, chest, and dresser. Aeliana had to admit, it was a pretty nice room. It wasn't as big as her room at home, but it had everything she needed.

"You can sleep in this room or the one connecting with the bathroom if you want," Katie said, setting the two boxes down on the bed. "I just figured you'd want to be in this one. It's not really 'gender classified', but this is more…_feminine _than the other one," she explained.

"No, no, this room's fine," Aeliana said, looking around the room before meeting her Aunt's eyes. "Thanks, Aunt Katie."

"No problem, kiddo." She smiled and crossed her arms over her chest. "All right, well, I'll leave you alone so you can get settled. Want some dinner?"

"Sure."

"Is pasta good enough?"

Aeliana laughed. "Pasta's perfect," she agreed. Katie shot her another smile and approved before leaving the room to let Aeliana set up her things. With a sigh, Aeliana turned to her stuff and realized that she actually _did _need to unpack. Normally, when she went to places for vacation and things, she would just throw her suitcase in a corner and live out of it.

But she very well couldn't do that for a _year, _now, could she?

She started with her clothes first. Honestly, she was surprised that she was able to get most of her clothes into her two suitcases. She had to leave a few things behind, but they were articles of clothing that she never wore…and quite possibly still had the tag on. It didn't take long for her to get her clothes settled into the drawers or, in regard of more delicate clothing, onto the hangers and into the closet. The more she moved around in the room, the more she took a liking to it. But she would have to, of course, if she were to live in it for a year…or possibly two.

After her clothes, she moved to the bathroom to unpack her toiletries. There was a door on the other side of the bathroom, and Aeliana felt curious. She left her toiletry bag unzipped and walked to the other side of the door, opened it, and peeked inside. The room was basically the same as hers, just painted blue and complete with a navy color, dark-colored cabinets, and a large television mounted on the wall. Katie was right; it was more masculine than the room she was in.

Since her curiosity was eased, she shut the door and moved back to unpack the toiletries from her bag. The toiletries took half the time to set up than her clothes, but after doing so, she could hear her aunt call from downstairs that dinner was ready.

"So how do you feel about starting school tomorrow?" Katie asked, twirling the spaghetti on her fork before fitting it into her mouth. They sat at the center isle in the kitchen, neglecting the large dining room that was apparent right when you walked through the door.

Aeliana sighed. "I don't know. Normal, I guess. First days are always the hardest, no matter if you're new or not, you know?"

Katie snorted. "Tell me about it. You try so hard on the first day, but on the second day, you just…give up." Aeliana raised an eyebrow, confused. "Come on, you've never done that? You'd pick out an outfit for the first day of school and think 'This is going to be the year that I try!', but instead, the second day, you just get out of bed and just slap on a sweatshirt?"

Aeliana shook her head. "No…"

Katie sighed. "Well, I guess it makes sense. I mean, after all, you and your parents live in California. 'Trying' over there is the equivalent to a _banquet_ over here."

"Is it really all that different here?" Aeliana asked.

"Well, it was back when I was going to school here. Standards probably rose over the last few years." Aeliana nodded in understanding and twirled her food on her fork before putting it into her mouth. "You nervous?"

Aeliana laughed lightly and tapped her fork on the side of her bowl. "A little." She looked up at Katie. "You don't think that they're all going to be talking about me, do you?"

"Why would they be talking about you?"

"You know, small town…new kid…it's not every day the school get a new student, right?"

Katie scoffed. "New students? No, of course not. I mean, like once every blue moon, but…" Katie stopped, realizing. She bit her lip. "I'm not helping, am I?"

"Nope."

After dinner and help with clean up, Aeliana went back upstairs to finish unpacking. It was around nine when she finally got everything situated, and she threw the cardboard boxes on the floor of her closet and shut the doors.

Her aunt had said goodnight right around the time that Aeliana got out of the shower, and Aeliana said her goodnight back. Five minutes after Katie had gone to her room to sleep and Aeliana was all dressed for bed, she opened the drawer of her nightstand and pulled out the leather-covered book that she had just placed in the nightstand an hour or two ago. Grabbing a pen on her way out, she turned right after exiting her room, turned another right, and went downstairs to the level between the second and first flight, where she situated herself on the window seat.

_Dear Diary,_

_I finally made it to Mystic Falls. It's a nice town, honestly. I don't mind it. I never thought I could get used to such a small town before, but then again, I never really cared. Katie's house is nice. Really nice. I feel sorry for her that she has to live in the house all alone. I wonder why she doesn't move. I mean, I know she can afford it…being a lawyer and all, but still. It seems to me like when you get a divorce, the first thing you'd want to do is move….even if you did get the house in the settlement._

_Anyway, tomorrow's my first day at Mystic Falls High, home of the Timberwolves. Yes, the Timberwolves. This should be fun. _

_I'm not actually worried about school, I'm worried about everyone staring at me. This town is small—really, really small. I mean, I think if Katie and I kept driving past her house, give or take a few miles, we'd end up in another town. _

_Hopefully I'm just being paranoid. Really, it was Lacey, Ronnie, and Wendy who put this idea into my head that students would bombard me on my first day. I actually think their first reaction was "Where's Mystic Falls? Somewhere in Canada?" _

_When I told them where it was and what a small town it was, that's when they started spitballing things that could happen…like getting stares from across the room or teachers introducing me at the front of the class. Please, dear God, do __not __let that happen to me tomorrow._

_On the subject, I should probably get to sleep. Early morning tomorrow._

Aeliana put down the pen and closed the leather diary over it. She looked outside of the window through the sheer white curtains to see the luminous crescent moon outside. The sight was memorizing, as were the stars around it. It was a different view of the world.

_Just a few more minutes, _thought Aeliana as she leaned back and enjoyed the precious view of the outside night.

* * *

"Hey, kiddo! Wake up!"

Aeliana awoke with a start, nearly falling off the edge of the window seat that she had unconsciously spent the night on. She clutched the diary that she had brought out with her to her chest, and she groggily saw Katie's figure standing by the top stair of the first flight, sipping her coffee.

"Mm…" Aeliana groaned, pulling herself to sit up straight. "What…happened?"

Katie laughed. "You feel asleep on the window seat," she explained the situation, though it was pretty much obvious. "But come on, you're running a little behind. I'll drive you to school." _That's right, _Aeliana thought sadly. _My car hasn't come yet. _

Aeliana sighed and forced herself off of the window seat, though she looked like a sleepwalking zombie.

"You all right there?"

Aeliana held up a thumb for a response.

Katie sipped her coffee, smiling to herself. "Day's off to a great start," she muttered to herself, turning around to wait downstairs as Aeliana readied for school. It wasn't long before she came down, fully dressed in a pair of jeans and a nice top, her hair thrown up into a ponytail so she didn't have to deal with it.

"How long do I have?" Aeliana rushed out, speed walking into the kitchen and towards the fridge.

"Relax, girl," Katie laughed. "You have another ten minutes. Eat your breakfast in peace," she mocked slowly. Aeliana let out a light laugh as she raided the fridge for the milk, and when she finally found it, she turned around and looked at the kitchen, trying to figure out where the pantry is. It didn't take her long to see the door, and with an interjection of joy, she opened the pantry door and searched the shelves.

"Cereal…I…don't see cereal…"

"It's somewhere on the bottom shelf," Katie called over to Aeliana as she stood in the small room next to the kitchen, watching the television. It was sort of a mini-living room, since the real one was to the right of the entrance.

"Found it," Aeliana returned, immediately grabbing the box of cereal and pulling it out. She scouring the cabinets for bowls, next. In a short while, she was able to find the bowl, pour both the milk and cereal inside, and eat her breakfast in moderate peace before it was time to go. Surprisingly, she didn't have a crick in her neck or an ache in her back from sleeping on the window seat.

"This is ridiculous," Katie sighed, walking back into the kitchen. "There's been an _animal _attack. Something about a mountain lion."

Aeliana raised an eyebrow. "They have mountain lions here?"

Katie shrugged. "Oh, you know. Small ones," she said sarcastically, letting a smile onto her face. "They just get bigger in the dark…"

Aeliana chuckled at the joke/possibly inappropriate innuendo and continued eating her cereal. Around ten minutes later, like Katie had predicted, the two were ready to go, and they hopped into Katie's SUV with a good amount of time to spare. Aeliana knew that she would have to go to the guidance office and get her schedule and things like that before the day could _actually _begin. What fun.

"Good luck," Katie practically sung, though managed to keep it quiet, as Aeliana stepped out of the car, giving her aunt a smile.

"Thanks."

She shut the car door and turned around, hearing the car behind her turn and leave school grounds. Aeliana looked at the moderately large high school, taking in her first impression. It wasn't prep school—that was for sure. Everyone here wore what they wanted to wear and did _virtually _anything they wanted to do. She was pretty sure she saw a group of mixed classmen smoking some kind of drug right on school grounds, tucked into a corner where they thought no one could see.

It was a change; that was for sure.

The stares already began as Aeliana made her way down the long path that led up to the school. People around her merely glanced, as if trying to discreetly judge her character. She tried not to notice, but it was very, _very _hard.

Her friends were right after all.

"Aeliana Barnes," the administration secretary repeated her name as she printed up her schedule and received it from the printer. "All right, I have your schedule right here. You'll have first period English with Miss Baker, second period History with Mr. Tanner, third period Art with Mr. McClain, and fourth period Health, or physical education with Miss Meadows. Do you need someone to show you where your classes are, dear?"

Aeliana looked at the map that the secretary had given to her just a few moments ago. It was pretty self-explanatory—the classroom numbers going up to the right and continuing up the stairs, where it increased from right to left. _Only two stories? _thought Aeliana with a deep breath. She might like this school better than she thought.

"No, thank you," Aeliana declined politely, giving the secretary a small smile. "I'll…um…find my way around."

"All right. Well, if there's anything else you need, feel free to stop by."

"I will." Did she really mean it? No, probably not. But it was something you always said to the adults that you'd probably never see again. Just give them what they want and leave, graciously, of course.

She turned on her heel and walked out of the office, only to accidentally push the door into someone's back. As soon as she realized the accident she caused, she began to apologize. "Oh, my God! I'm so sorry!"

The boy laughed, bending down to pick up the books he'd dropped. "You're fine," he said, looking up at her from the ground. "You're…_really _fine." He straightened from the floor, gathering his books in his hands. He took out a deep breath of air and glazed his eyes over her. "And new. I haven't seen you before."

"I…uh, just moved here," she said, cautious of the teenager. "Last night, actually."

"You're Aeliana, right?" he prompted, and she gave a slight, yet distant, nod. "I'm Tyler. Sorry, I know, I must sound like a creep knowing your name, but we've had, like, three news students in the entire span of the senior class. It's pretty unlikely for us to get two in one year."

"Two?" Aeliana asked, surprised. "I didn't know there was someone else."

Tyler shrugged. "Yeah, actually, he came in during the summer, so he's not all _that_ new. Glad he did, though, he's on the football team with me."

"Football team," Aeliana repeated. _This school has a…football team? _Tyler nodded. "Well, that's great. Uh…I've got to go, though. I'll…see you around," she said, giving him a light smile before walking past him and two other students that had been standing by. Not even two minutes had she been out of that office and someone already knew her name without her knowledge.

This was going to be a long day.

First period English with Miss Baker was...interesting. Like all first days, there was an introduction to the syllabus, the supply list, and the dreaded icebreaker that all students, even Aeliana, had groaned about. Even back in the academy, they would have icebreakers. Stupid little games to get to know each your classmates.

"You have two minutes," Miss Baker said with a kind smile as she turned to let the class carry out her instructions. The task was to turn to a person sitting next to you and introduce yourself and talk for the remainder of the time. At first, it was mostly silent, but as time increased, the noise level did as well. Aeliana was writing down the list of supplies that were on the board when she was interrupted.

"Hi!" Aeliana looked up to see a perky blonde with a wide, cheerful grin. "I'm Caroline Forbes."

At least she didn't say her name before Aeliana told her what it was. "Aeliana Barnes," she responded, giving a slight smile back. Caroline twisted herself in the seat in front of her so that they could freely converse.

"Barnes? As in Katie Barnes?" Caroline asked in a highly interrogative tone much suited for an interview of some sort.

Aeliana nodded. "Uh, yeah. She's my aunt."

"Are you staying with her?" The question earned a nod from Aeliana. "That's great! I'm just a few streets over! How long are you staying with her?"

_Exactly like an interview, _Aeliana thought with a sigh. "Um…probably for the year. School year, I mean," she amended.

"Where'd you move from?"

"California," answered Aeliana. "Malibu, actually," she clarified.

Caroline groaned. "_Oh. _I've _always _wanted to go to California. You know, so much fun…sun…boys—"

But Caroline was interrupted by Miss Baker, who didn't let the class converse with anyone else for the rest of the class. When the period was over, Aeliana gathered her things together and looked at her schedule to see the room number. She really didn't have time to memorize it beforehand, obviously. "Don't mind Caroline." Aeliana looked up to see a boyishly handsome teenager with blonde hair and bright blue eyes that no girl would ever miss. "She comes off strong, but…well, yeah." He laughed.

Aeliana laughed and shook her head. "No, it's fine."

"You're probably aware that you're the talk of the school by now, huh?"

The girl inhaled. "Uh…the thought crossed my mind once or twice," she breathed with a small, awkward laugh. "Aeliana," she introduced herself, figuring that she might as well get it over with.

"Matt," he answered back. "So what class do you have next?"

"History with Tanner," she responded as they began to walk out from the aisles of rows and towards the door, where the next period students were slowly floating in.

"Then I'll show you to the class," Matt offered as they entered the hall. Aeliana shook her head.

"No, actually. It's fine. I've got the room number and it's not really that hard to get around—"

Matt laughed. "No, no. I mean, I have him next period too, so…I'll be walking with you, anyway."

"Oh," Aeliana said, nodding. Giving him a small smile, she agreed, "Okay then."

It wasn't long before they reached Tanner's class, who immediately had a seating chart up for them even before they walked into the classroom. A few students were already seated, and Matt and Aeliana parted ways to their seats. Matt sat in the back corner of the classroom, and Aeliana took her seat in the row to the left of it, more in front than anything else.

Preparing herself based on last class, Aeliana took out her notebook and then laid back, waiting for class to begin. Just like the academy, they weren't allowed on their cell phones during class. But, she could clearly see students at their desk, hiding their phone strategically so that the teacher wouldn't see. It was clever, but risky nonetheless.

"Coach Tanner." Aeliana noticed a boy with a tall, lean yet strong build and _perfectly _shaped hair give the teacher a nod as he entered the room. In return, the teacher nodded.

"Mr. Salvatore," he acknowledged as the boy walked by and made his way to the seat that he glanced at and spotted on the projector overhead.

But, when he turned around, Stefan Salvatore felt something pulling at him. Something…something weird.

It was the very same pull that had gotten him into the town in the first place. This familiar _squeeze _that he felt…like there was something that was going to happen that he _needed _to be in the town for. Something…strange. Unexplainable.

Aeliana pulled her pen back and forth leisurely, creating a small side drawing on her blank sheet of paper. She was glad that she'd chosen Art class for the first semester…though she wasn't happy that she'd gotten three course classes in one semester. _Math, _she thought with a dreading tone. As an attempt at sarcasm on herself, she continued. _Something to look forward to._

The bell rang, indicating the time for class was now here, and a few students rushed in at the last second. Some were late, and as a result, Mr. Tanner gave them a harsh warning.

There was no icebreaker with him. No, it was straight down to business. He actually began to talk about _something_. And "something" constituted as an actual lesson. Aeliana could just tell that he was one of _those _teachers. The ones who thought they could do so much better than they actually did before they decided to become a teacher to financially support him. And, as a result of his failure, he takes it out on students.

Aeliana sat back in her chair as she thought to herself about how on-task she was with this guy. She continued to write down notes, as well as listen to what the teacher was saying. But something drifted in her mind, and she began to think to herself about her situation. Besides that Tyler kid automatically saying her name without telling her, she actually liked it here. Even though that one girl…Caroline, was it? Even though Caroline was a little…_chatty, _to say the least, it didn't really bothered her. Honestly, she was probably better than all of the students at Preston Wood.

Hopefully it would be different here. Hopefully kids just didn't go out on a school night for party after party.

After a few minutes, Aeliana began to relax when Tanner unblocked his projector and turned off the lights so that they could watch a clip of some documentary. It was quite boring, really, and Aeliana thought she was going to fall asleep.

Instead, she felt something _nagging _at her. A weird feeling…like someone was watching her. It was strange, because ever since that day where she had seen someone on the other side of the street, she had this knack for _feeling _when people were looking. She tried to ignore the feeling, but there was just something bothering her about this one. With the slightest turn of her head, she caught the person that gave her this weird feeling.

It was the boy who had walked in and personally greeted the teacher—the one with the tall, lean yet strong build and perfectly shaped hair—who was giving her this feeling. His eyes lingered for just a moment, just as confused as she was, and then he averted his eyes to look up at the screen. Almost immediately, Aeliana did the same, with nothing but curiosity tracing the rims of her eyes. She could still feel something…an indescribable pull of some sort, but she rejected it and sat forward until the lights came back on and Tanner continued.

When the bell rang, Aeliana gathered her stuff again, only to feel a weird sense of déjà vu when another person approached her as she began to leave. "Hey!" Aeliana turned around to see a girl about the same age as her, slender and fair-skinned with complimenting blonde hair. Beside her was another teenage girl, dark-skinned this time with course, dark hair and the same slender form. "You're Aeliana Barnes, right? First period English with Baker?" asked the blonde.

Aeliana nodded. "Yeah," she said, getting tired of answering the same question time and time again.

"I'm Lindsay," she introduced herself.

"I'm Bonnie," the brunette told her with a greeting smile. "So, we just wanted to know if you wanted to come and hang out with us at lunch. Best seats in the house. Promise." She laughed.

Aeliana thought about declining for just a _split _second, but the fear of making new friends was never one to drag her down. "Yeah, sure. Why not?" she agreed, giving Bonnie a light smile back.

So, like she'd agreed, she went to lunch with the two girls, and found herself meeting up with the girl who had questioned her earlier—Caroline Forbes. She sat at the table, talking with friends of mixed genders, and when she spotted Lindsay and Bonnie with Aeliana, she gasped. "Aeliana! You joined us for lunch!"

"Yeah. I figured, you know…why not?"

"Well, perfect!" Caroline raved as they all began to eat in the limited time that they had. "So, anyways, about California…"

The lunch went on, and soon it neared the end. Apparently, Lindsay was in her Art class and Bonnie was in her last class of the day—the dreaded one; physical education. Luckily, though, Miss Meadows was a nice, laid-back gym teacher. Still didn't mean they didn't have to do laps around the track.

Caroline asked a lot of questions about Aeliana's past in California, and everyone listened to her like she was telling some kind of fairytale. She left out the part about moving because of Sarah, and just said it was because she needed to clear her head and get away from Preston Wood for a while. But, the end of lunch came all too soon, and Aeliana felt surprised at how quickly the day was going.

It was right when the end of lunch came that she got the invitation. "Yeah, we're all going to the Grill tonight to catch up on everything," Lindsay informed her. "Do you want to come?"

"The Grill?" Aeliana repeated out of confusion.

Bonnie laughed. "Okay. Now you _have _to come. You can't live in Mystic Falls without going to the Grill."

"And _we'll _be the first ones you'll go to it with," Caroline exclaimed excitedly.

Aeliana thought about it for a moment, but then she realized. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go out tonight. First night after starting a new school…

"You know," Aeliana began slowly, "I'll…err, think about it. I should probably talk to Katie and see if I have any plans," she lied. As an attempt to make peace at the decline, she began, "But tell me when you'll be there. If I can make it, I'll try to stop by."

"Mm…six?" Lindsay confirmed, looking at Caroline and Bonnie for approval. The both of them nodded and, in return, Lindsay nodded to Aeliana. "Six o'clock, I guess. Don't worry, though, we'll probably be home by eight," she promised.

Aeliana gave a promising nod, but she didn't have any plans to actually go through with the offer. She liked the people—she really did—but there were just some things she wasn't ready for. Going out on a school night again was one of those things.

After all, that's what put her in Mystic Falls in the first place.

Art was another of those laid-back classes who only went over the syllabus—as was physical education the period after that. It was only Mr. Tanner who'd decided to start the lessons that day, oddly enough. Though, Mr. McClain had them draw on a piece of paper—whether it be paint, pencil, or so much as a doodle—and hand it in at the end of class. In the thirty minutes that he'd given, Aeliana had painted an array of light, dusk-inspired colors that wrinkled the paper. She'd always had a talent when it came to artistic abilities, but it was merely just a hobby. She inherited it from her dad, who used to paint before he became a businessman. Perhaps that was why he was so laid-back, despite the stereotype.

The day soon ended, where Katie picked up Aeliana at the school, as promised. But Aeliana's car would be getting to Mystic Falls the day after the next, so after that, she wouldn't have to have Katie leave early from work so that she could pick her up.

"Did they know who you were?" Katie asked after having the polite conversation of how her day went.

Aeliana sighed as she buckled her seatbelt. "Yeah," she said, but shrugged. "But it wasn't the end of the world."

Katie smiled and moved the gearshift so that she could back out of the school and head home.

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_So, the second day at school wasn't that bad. In fact, it was…normal. Which is good, of course, because normality is a thing that's strange right now to me. I thought I would never get back to normal. Thank God I finally found it. _

_Lindsay, Caroline, and Bonnie invited me to this thing called a…back-to-school bonfire or something? I don't know, it sounds like a party to me. They invited me earlier today, but…I don't know. I don't think I should go. But I'd already bailed on going to the…Grill with them yesterday, and they're a persistent group of people. _

_Which is probably why I like them so much. _

Aeliana sighed and put her pen down on top of her open diary, staring out of the open window to feel the fresh breeze on her face. She had opened it considering the nice day outside, and it had calmed her a lot. The second day of school went by even faster, and on top of all that—like she'd written in her diary—Caroline, Bonnie, and Lindsay had invited her to the back-to-school bonfire at the Falls later in the evening.

All of a sudden, as she stared out onto the nice, suburban streets, there was a caw of a crow. What made her jump even more was when the bird fluttered its wings and landed on the tree that rested _just _by the window, but not nearly close enough.

Aeliana stared at the bird with curiosity as it cawed again. It was giving her the creeps. "Err…hello…crow?" she tried, knotting her eyebrows. "Just a…random crow sitting on a tree, cawing at me. Nope, nothing weird at all," she muttered to herself as the crow cawed again. She sighed. "Okay, now you're freaking me out, bird." It cawed _three _times this time. _Three! _"Nope! That's it. Leave. Be gone, you creepy bird!" she said, sticking her hand out of the window and shooing it away so that the bird left, flapping its wings against the branches of the tree she could not reach, rattling its leaves.

When Aeliana sighed and turned back, she saw her Aunt Katie standing at the steps like she had the morning before, except, of course, now it was dusk. "Just…yelling at a random crow?"

"Yeah. Something I like to do in my free time."

"Oh, that's nice."

"Mmhmm," Aeliana mumbled, laughing to herself. Katie let out a small laugh, too, and she walked over to sit with Aeliana on the window seat.

"So," started Katie. "The back-to-school bonfire is tonight."

"You know about that?"

"Of course I do. It's a tradition at Mystic Falls High," she scoffed, like Aeliana was _supposed _to know or something. "Are you going?"

"Actually, I was thinking about staying in tonight," Aeliana admitted, straightening. Katie sighed.

"Like you stayed in the other night when your friends asked you to go to the Grill with them?"

"Katie…"

"Look, kiddo…I'm not your mom. I won't lecture you," she said, shaking her head. Aeliana sighed again. "I'm not here for that. I'm your Aunt, and…since you have no brothers or sisters, you left the task of giving advice up to me, who happens to be only ten years older than you." Katie gave a smile, which Aeliana hesitantly returned. "There's no way I'm going to _force _you to go to the party, but I think it should be fun. And you came here to get a fresh start, so…maybe you should try," she offered with a shrug.

Aeliana thought it over for a long time, debating her aunt's words. Eventually, she let out a deep breath in exasperation as she got up from the window seat. "All right, all right. I get it. What, you have a date tonight or something?"

"Two, actually. Ben and Jerry are coming over."

"Oh, ha-ha. Funny."

An hour later, after given instructions by Katie regarding where she was to go, Aeliana arrived at the Falls, where there were kids coming from every direction. They all held plastic cups in their hands, the world symbol for beer or some other form of alcohol. Though, there were some with just plain beer bottles, like they didn't care what adult came by and saw. In the middle of it all was a large fire, hence the "bonfire" in "back-to-school _bonfire_".

When she made her way into the core of the party, she heard her name, "Aeliana!"

The teenager turned around to face Matt, who walked up to her with a girl by his side. But they had mostly the same facial features, and though it was an assumption, she named the girl beside him as Matt's sister. She could be wrong, but it was just a guess. "Hey, Matt," she said, approaching him.

"You came," he said with a smile. "Are you with Caroline, Lindsay, and Bonnie?"

Aeliana shook her head. "No. Actually, they invited me earlier, but I didn't know I was coming until a little while ago."

Matt nodded at her. "Well, they should be around here somewhere." He looked to his side to the girl that Aeliana believed was his relative. "Vicki, this is Aeliana. Aeliana, this is Vicki. My sister."

_I was right, _Aeliana thought to herself as she smiled at the younger, feminine version of Matt, who had light brunette hair instead of blonde like her younger brother. "Nice to meet you, Vicki."

"Uh huh. Whatever." Vicki shrugged and caught the sight of someone who made her smile. Vicki looked up at Matt. "Gotta go, Mattie. See you later," she said, skipping off in the other direction without even so much as a moment of hesitation. Aeliana turned around to see Vicki running towards a group of people, going straight to Tyler, who stood in the center. Aeliana turned back and raised an eyebrow at Matt.

"Is she dating Tyler?"

"Secretly."

"How's that working out for her?"

Matt snickered. "Vicki can't keep a secret to save her life," he confessed, making Aeliana smile. But before the conversation could continue, Aeliana heard her name again, and suddenly, she was facing Caroline, Bonnie, and Lindsay.

"You decided to come," said Bonnie with a grin. Aeliana nodded.

"Uh, yeah. Katie said it was okay, and I got my car early so I could drive myself," she explained.

"We have to get you a drink—"

"Hey, Matt, practice isn't until next week, right?" Lindsay was interrupted by Stefan, who walked up to Matt and asked him the question.

Matt nodded. "Right."

"Sorry. Sam was trying to tell me that it was on Friday," Stefan inhaled, his sharp breath somewhat annoyed. But he was suddenly aware of the four girls in front of him. "Oh, hey." But his eyes brought him over to Aeliana, whom he didn't know.

"Stefan," Lindsay piped with a smile. "This is Aeliana, the other new student."

Aeliana looked at Lindsay with curious eyes. "Other?" she repeated.

"Yeah," the blonde agreed. "Stefan came in during the summer so that he could start on the football team this year."

The boy who stood in front of her—Stefan—was the very same boy that she'd felt was staring at her and confirmed that he was. She felt that same nagging feeling at her now just as she had felt in the classroom, but she pushed it aside her mind and gave him her warmest smile. "Well, then, I guess we have something in common, don't we?"

Stefan gave her a smile back, but he felt the same thing that she did. "I guess we do."

* * *

"You know, you're…like, the _talk_ of the town now," Stefan teased her as they sat in the gazebo that the fire was lit under. The rest of the group had gone to get some more drinks, leaving the two alone.

Aeliana raised an eyebrow. "Well, if _I'm _the talk of the town, you must be, too."

"Nah, they got over me after my first month. News of you came along and…" He made an airplane takeoff-like motion with his hand. "Skyrocketed. Especially coming from across the country," he added.

"Well, where'd you come from?" she inquired, taking a sip of the water that she had gotten earlier.

Stefan took a moment of hesitation. "Um…you know, not very far from here."

Again, Aeliana looked at him with confusion as she laughed. "That's…not exactly an answer."

"Hey," someone interrupted them, and Aeliana and Stefan turned to see Matt with a concerned look on his face. "Have you two seen my sister? It's been like an hour and I don't know where she is."

Both Aeliana and Stefan shook their heads. "Sorry, Matt. Haven't seen her since she ran off with Tyler," Aeliana said apologetically, and Matt looked around, desperate to find his sister. "You need help finding her?"

"Nah…" Matt said, shaking his head as he scanned the crowd for his sister's face. "I'll find her. Thanks, though."

"Yeah, no problem," Aeliana nodded to him and both she and Stefan watched as Matt went somewhere else to ask about his sister. "This is one…err, _extraordinary _town."

Stefan chuckled. "Yeah, it seems that way at first. But the people are really nice, though, trust me."

Aeliana nodded. "No, I know. Everyone except Mr. Tanner." Again, Stefan laughed. "What? I know he's the football coach and everything, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still _overbearing_."

Stefan nodded in agreement. "Yeah, no. I completely get it. Even all the guys on the football team hate him sometimes…well, most the time," he added.

"What made you want to join the football team in the first place?" When Stefan raised an eyebrow, she corrected her question, "I mean…it just…doesn't seem like you're the type of guy to play football, you know? Maybe like soccer or something…"

Stefan shook his head. "No, not soccer. Football is good, though. I don't know, I just thought it would be nice to be apart of a team. High school football teams are like brothers, you know?"

"Do you have your own brother?" she asked, but this wasn't an interrogative tone like Caroline's this morning. It was genuine conversation.

Stefan paused. "Uh…yeah. But we haven't spoken in a while. He…um…left."

Aeliana gave him a sad smile. "Sorry."

Stefan shook his head. "No, you're fine. It's been a while, anyway."

"Have you talked to him since?"

"Once or twice, but not recently," Stefan answered. "What about you? Any siblings?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but that's when they heard it.

A scream.

"Somebody! Call an ambulance!" Matt screamed, walking out of the woods with his sister in his arms. Aeliana and Stefan straightened, stopping their conversation immediately. They both witnessed as Tyler, who had been standing in the middle of the crowd of students the entire time, they realized, ran up to Matt.

"What happened to her?"

But Stefan could smell the scent of blood, and it was overwhelming him. And, somehow, he knew this wasn't a coincidence, nor was this an accident. With the animal attacks in Mystic Falls recently…

_No._

"This wound…it looks bad," someone said—a female voice this time.

"Vicki! Vicki, come on! Open your eyes!"

"What the hell is going on?" Aeliana muttered, confused beyond doubt. But when she turned to the side to face Stefan, she could no longer see him.

Stefan was gone.

* * *

Stefan ran to the boarding house using his inhuman speed, not wasting any time or any second.

_Another one, _he thought, shaking his head out of disbelief. _Another one's here. Another one's attacking…_As fast as he could, he curved up the stairs to his bedroom and shut the door instantly, giving it a heavy slam.

_Could it be possible?_ Stefan thought to himself as he paused in his steps, thinking over the reason that _he'd _come back to this town in the first place, anyway. _Could they have felt the same thing I feel? _

That strange pull, that strange _force _that bound him to this town had something to do with Aeliana, he could _feel _it. Every time he was around her, he felt the extra gravity. No, it wasn't that he had feelings _for _her, it was just that he had feelings _of _her. Things that even he was not able to explain.

But then he stopped, and _really _thought for a second.

And that's when he could feel the cool air on his back.

Just as Stefan turned, a crow cawed and flew into his bedroom. Following the bird, he turned his head, and suddenly, it all made sense—why the attack was planned at the high school he went to.

Stefan squared his jaw and turned, afraid of what he'd find. Sure enough, his fears were confirmed, and he moved his mouth into a tight line.

"Damon."

* * *

**So, if you didn't notice, it kind of had the same events as the pilot, just without the actual dialogue. I'm going to be deferring from the show, but I have to get some of the events to be incorporated. I will _hardly _ever take an actual scene in the show. Though the scene where they all realized that Vicki was attacked was kind of written off the show. Again, it's complicated. **

**By the way, I made a playlist for this story (and all the others) on 8tracks. Give it a listen if you want, the link's on my profile. No need to, I thought it'd just be fun :)**

**I'll update ASAP. **

_**Love, **_

_**BellaSalvatore1918**_

_**X**_


	3. Sensation

**On a roll with this! I had an urge to write this after the last chapter, and since I had nothing to do today, I finished it :) Probably not the smartest thing to do, but here it is. I probably should've waited a few days, but hey. Why not, right? **

**I'll be working on ATSTM and the new Shiver story soon. If I can, I'll try to get something else out today. For now, enjoy this chapter! Damon and Aeliana "officially" meet in the next chapter, so watch out for it!**

**Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter.**

* * *

"_Love is an indescribable sensation - perhaps a conviction, a sense of certitude."_

_-Joyce Carol Oates_

* * *

**Sensation**

"Hello, brother."

Stefan watched as a smirk fell onto his dark-haired vampire brother's lips and stretched by the second, clearly enjoying the sight of Stefan in confusion and partial fear. Damon had been the vampire who attacked Matt's sister tonight—Stefan was sure of it.

"Crow's a bit much, don't you think?" Stefan tensed as Damon walked into his open bedroom and relentlessly began to pick through his things. Damon laughed to himself.

"Oh, no. I find it fitting. Why? You don't like it?" Damon pouted out of mockery, but Stefan didn't let his brother's childish games get to him. It was the same story over and over again, and it had been _fifteen years _since their last run-in. And whenever they ran into each other, things never ended well. "_Of course_." Damon sighed. "Stefan Salvatore, always the handsome, brooding being. I'm wondering whether it's going to start getting tiring for you, Stef."

"What are you doing here, Damon?" Stefan asked, trying to keep a leveled voice. "It's been fifteen years. I doubt you're here for a family reunion."

"You know," Damon said abruptly, turning around and scoffing. "I could ask you the _same _thing, brother. But I know why I'm here, so why don't you go first?"

"That's not how it works, Damon."

"Indulge me," his brother suggested with a light shrug. Though, the way he looked at Stefan afterwards gave the very indication that it was anything _but _a suggestion.

Stefan did not flinch. "You feel it, too, don't you?"

"Well done, Stefan!" Damon clapped for dramatic emphasis. "Finally using your head for something other than a hat rack."

"Do you know what it means?"

Damon sighed. "Nope," he said, dragging out the word. "But I have an idea." He smirked up at his brother, who quickly realized. "Miss _Aeliana Barnes, _is it?"

"How do you know about her?"

Damon shot his brother a teasing glance. "Don't you feel it too?"

"Damon—"

"She's quite _extraordinary, _isn't she?" Damon chuckled under his breath as he walked around the room, picking at random things in Stefan's bedroom. "Beautiful hair, beautiful eyes. Beautiful in general, really, but I'm assuming you already know that."

Stefan shook his head. "It's not like that. There's something…_strange_ about her, Damon."

Damon chuckled. "Strange isn't the word I'd use, brother—"

"If you don't think there's something wrong, you obviously _don't _feel the same thing I do," Stefan practically snapped, shutting his brother up. But the moment Stefan became the slightest bit angry, Damon did as well.

"You think I don't _feel _it, Stefan? Her power, it's driving me _insane. Insane, _Stefan. _Insane. _Do you know what happens when a vampire gets insane? He gets _hungry_. And you know what happens to a vampire when he gets hungry? He _feeds_," Damon snarled, stepping closer.

Stefan shook his head. "I know what you're trying to do, Damon. It's not going to work."

"Yeah?" Damon prompted, shoving his brother's shoulder. Though the gesture might come off as playful, it was more of an irritation to Stefan. "Come on! Don't you crave a little?"

"Stop it."

Damon shoved his brother again. "Let's do it! Together. I saw a couple girls out there." Again, he wacked Stefan's shoulder. "Or, just…let's just cut to the chase! Let's just go straight for Aeliana!"

"Stop it, Damon!" Stefan shouted, shoving the vampire from his personal space.

"The _power, _Stefan. The power can _do _things. Her _blood _can do things, Stefan! Imagine what it tastes like! Imagine how _good _it'll feel when all of that power is flowing through _you_." He paused for a moment as Stefan turned his eyes away. "I can."

Stefan turned back at Damon abruptly, calming himself. "This isn't a _game, _Damon! You can't do this. Wherever you go, people _die_."

Damon shrugged. "Well, that's a given."

Stefan shook his head. "Not here. Not our home," he protested, taking a step closer as his brother remained still.

"You think that's going to _stop _me?" Damon challenged, tensing up. "Stefan, you have no _right _to be coming back here. Not after what you did to her. After what you did to me."

"Damon, I—"

"Ah, ah, ah," Damon said, wagging his finger as he walked forward and lightened the mood in the room. "No, no, brother. I _promised _you an eternity of misery…and…well, I'm just keeping my word."

"It doesn't have to be this way, Damon," Stefan insisted, staying in his place this time. "We can give it a _rest." _

With a large growl at the words, Damon flashed him and his brother up to the nearest wall, pinning Stefan by the collar of his leather jacket. "Don't you _dare _try to get yourself out of this, Stefan! You brought this on _yourself_. _You _killed her. _You _were the one who did this to me." He let his eyes turn so that his brother could clearly see the bloodshot eyes and veins that ran underneath, a sight that Stefan had seen on himself too many times.

"I didn't kill her, Damon," Stefan snarled back. "_Katherine _killed _herself. _It wasn't my fault. It wasn't your fault. It was _her _fault."

Things fell silent for the longest time before Damon finally pulled back, easing the hand that was on Stefan's throat and backing away. Stefan hunched over to catch his breath, and Damon let out a chuckle. "Oh, Stefan. I can already tell coming back home is going to be a _blast_."

"You don't have to stay here," Stefan choked out slowly. "Her power's strong, but it's avoidable. Just leave, Damon."

A flash of hatred ran through Damon's eyes, and, once again, he stepped closer. "I thought I made myself clear, brother," he said, his voice barely a whisper as he stepped up in Stefan's face. "I'm not going _anywhere_."

And, with a chuckle of devious laughter, Damon was finally out of his bedroom, but Stefan knew that he wasn't out of the town.

* * *

Aeliana watched as the ambulance left the scene of the bonfire, taking Matt and his sister with him. She couldn't believe it—her _first _night in a long time _actually _going out somewhere, and yet…here she was, reliving past experiences. Something _bad _inside of her wanted to reach out and touch Vicki…to heal her like she had Sarah. But, instead, she pushed the thought into a closet inside of her mind, locked it, and threw away the key.

"Hey," Bonnie approached Aeliana, making the teenager turn at the sound. "So…Caroline, Lindsay, and I are going to go to the Grill…you know, get some coffee. Wait for any news. Would you like to join us?"

Aeliana opened her mouth to immediately decline—she'd already had enough "fun" for one night. But as she thought about saying no, she realized that if she turned this down, she would virtually turn down any chance at being friends with these people. And, as much as she was surprised to admit it, she actually _liked _them.

"Uh…yeah," Aeliana nodded slowly, debating her decision for just a moment before realizing that it was the right thing. "Yeah, if you'll just give me the address, I'll meet you all there," she offered.

"Okay, great," Bonnie said before taking out her phone, getting Aeliana's number, and texting the address to her. "We're going to leave now, so…"

"Oh. Yeah, I'll come with," she said, nodding again before following Bonnie to the parking lot. Like she'd said, she met up with them at this "Grill", which was a restaurant called the Mystic Grill in the middle of the quaint town square that she had been introduced to right when driving into the town.

"What do you think bit her?" Lindsay asked as the four of them sat at a booth in the restaurant, sipping coffee as planned.

Caroline, who was slightly drunk, shook her head and slurred, "Who knows? Maybe Tyler did it."

Bonnie scoffed. "Come on, Caroline. Tyler wouldn't just _bite _someone and bleed them dry."

Aeliana sighed and leaned back in her seat. "It's probably another animal attack," she said, pulling the coffee cup to her lips and drinking the strong caffeine. Everyone looked over at her, and she hesitantly put her coffee down. "What? Don't you guys watch the news?"

"An _animal attack _would cause a bite that large?" Lindsay asked, widening her eyes. Aeliana shrugged, leaning forward now. "Well, what do we do to stop this thing? Cage it?"

"We'd have to catch it first, Lindsay," Bonnie replied. "But we're not going to be doing that on an empty stomach. Come on, Caroline, you need some food, too." She rose from her position in the booth, and Caroline just moaned in response. Bonnie sighed, but realized that she was going to have to get something for Caroline regardless.

"Wait, I'll come with," Lindsay offered, sliding out of her position in the booth.

When they were gone, Caroline mumbled, "So…" she began as Aeliana leisurely sipped her coffee, holding it in her hand. "You and Stefan, huh?"

"Me and Stefan what?" Aeliana asked, looking over at Caroline, whose head rested on the table.

"You know," Caroline sighed against the table. "When's the wedding?"

Aeliana nearly choked on her coffee, and realizing what Caroline was implying, she let out a soft scoff. "No, no, Caroline. No, Stefan and I…just no."

"But he's so gorgeous," Caroline almost whined. The teenager beside her laughed.

"Then why don't _you _go for him?"

Caroline sat up straight and pouted, "I tried," she said before returning her head to the table, where she laid and practically fell asleep for a few moments. With an outward sigh, Aeliana turned her head to overlook the somewhat popular business of the Mystic Grill.

Suddenly, she began to feel that strange pull that tightened her core—the feeling she'd had when she saw Stefan for the very first time, and when she'd talked to him at the party. It was…another form of gravity. A rope, if you will, between two people. _Is Stefan here? _Aeliana thought to herself, beyond confused. She didn't see him roaming around anywhere, but that's when her eyes caught a different sight.

An overly confident male walked into the Grill, eyeing two women who walked beside him and practically fell over at the sight of him in general. But Damon's eyes drifted like a magnet and instantly caught Aeliana's without even trying. She _knew _that she should've torn her eyes away, but there was just something about it…the way he looked at her. A massive wave of a violent vibration crashed over her, and at this, she heard the crack of glass—which was the only sound that brought her and Damon out of their unusual trance.

Damon merely continued to the bar, but he couldn't shake off the feeling of an invisible link that tightened him and the girl who he hardly knew—Aeliana Barnes. With gritted teeth, Damon sat down at the bar and hastily ordered a glass of bourbon. God _help _him if he was going _weak _for a teenage girl with whom he had never met before. She'd already been haunting his dreams at night, preying at his very soul. She sucked him right back into the town that he despised, with a brother he could not stand.

"What the _hell _happened?" Caroline screeched as Aeliana looked down at her caffeine-soaked shirt. Shards of glass covered her hand and there was even a small cut across the base of her thumb.

"I…uh…" Aeliana fumbled for words, but she ended up just shaking her head. "I don't know. I guess it had a crack in it before and I put too much pressure on it. God, now I have to clean this up…"

"Whoa," Bonnie said slowly as she and Lindsay returned to the table just as Aeliana tried dabbing at the coffee stain on her shirt. "What happened to aiming for your mouth?"

Aeliana let out a humorless laugh. "Seemed to have slipped my mind for a moment." She sighed heavily and looked up at them. "I hate to cut this short, but this is going to stain and I'm going to smell like rotten coffee if I don't get cleaned up. I'll see you guys tomorrow?"

There was a chorus of agreements, and with a grateful smile, Aeliana power-walked out of the Grill _so _fast so that she couldn't have another episode with the man who made her break her own damn coffee cup.

* * *

_Dear Diary, _

_Bad things need to stop thinking I'm beacon for them. I'm not, and I sure as hell don't want to be. _

_Last night, an animal attacked Matt's sister, Vicki. Well, at least, I think it's an animal attack. No one has confirmed anything. I'm sure I'll know by the end of the today…possibly tomorrow. I really hope she's okay, I mean…she lost a lot of blood. And, by a lot, I mean a lot. _

_And, of course, this had to happen on the night that I finally decided to take a stand against my fears and face them. _

_But I thought about it last night while I was in the shower, ridding myself of the rotten coffee smell that I had somehow gotten onto me while at the Grill. There was this thing with this guy…I don't know what happened, honestly—but that's not the point! I was thinking to myself about my life here and my life in California, and I realized. I can't have one foot inside the door and one foot out of it. I have to choose a side. I have to choose whether I __really__ want a fresh start or whether I want to go back to my fragile lifestyle in California._

_And, the thing is, I choose to stay here. _

_I don't want any more breaks. I don't want everyone to sit there and wonder if I'm okay or not. Because, the truth of the matter is, I'm __not__ okay, but I don't need everyone else reminding me of that. _

_So far, no one at school knows of the accident, and I plan on keeping it that way. The more I keep to myself, the better. _

_I am not a beacon for bad things. I won't be. _

Aeliana arrived at the school in her _own _car, which was probably the tiniest bit nicer than the cars of Mystic Falls. But, she had to admit; the town wasn't secluded when it came to cars. They were standard cars, of course, but it didn't change the fact that there were _still _some nice cars around the parking lot.

"So what exactly happened last night?" Lindsay asked Aeliana, who raised an eyebrow as they walked through the hallways of Mystic Falls High. "You know…breaking the coffee mug?"

Aeliana shook her head. "I…I don't know. There was this guy…" she trailed off, laughing. How silly to think that her breaking this glass had anything to do with a _guy_. But before she could move on, Caroline inhaled sharply beside her.

"A guy? What? Where? How did I miss him?"

"Relax, Caroline." Aeliana chuckled. "It was nothing. I don't know, I was just…staring at him, and all of a sudden, the mug broke. Like I said, there must've been a crack in it," she lied. Well, it wasn't _really _a lie. For all she knew, the glass _could've _broken because of an unknown crack. But, then, what would explain the vibration wave that coursed through her? It was almost identical to the one she felt when she healed Sarah, but…more violent.

"That's so…weird," Lindsay admitted, wrinkling her nose.

"So," Caroline began slowly. "What, exactly, did this guy look like?" Aeliana shot her an incredulous glance. "What? Come on! Was he hot? I don't think you'd break a mug if he wasn't hot…"

"I-I didn't even see him that clearly." Caroline gave her a pointed glance. "Okay…he wasn't…_too _bad," she said, trying to get a clearer image in her mind. But, truth be told, she could see him _very _clearly—like she had just stared at him for an hour.

Beside her, Caroline laughed. "That look on your face does _not _say that he 'wasn't too bad'. It says that he was _hot_."

"Hey," Bonnie interrupted the conversation by walking up to the three of them. The greeting earned a chorused "hi" back from the three teenagers. "What's up?"

"We're just talking about the guy Aeliana met yesterday," Lindsay said with a devilish grin.

"I didn't even meet him," Aeliana protested, shaking her head. "I just…saw him."

"And broke a coffee cup in the process," Caroline added pointedly. Aeliana frowned, but Caroline turned to Bonnie. "Hey, weren't you saying something about being a witch yesterday?"

"A witch?" Aeliana repeated, looking at Bonnie for an explanation. Bonnie shook her head and laughed.

"Yeah. My Grams says that my ancestors are like this really cool Salem witch chicks or something…but she was looped on the liquor, so I kind of tuned out," Bonnie explained and looked up at Caroline. "Crazy family, yes. Witches, I don't think so."

Caroline groaned. "Well, feel free to conjure up that guy Aeliana saw. If she doesn't want to take a crack at him, I certainly will," she offered.

"You didn't even see him!" Aeliana chuckled in disbelief as Caroline shrugged.

"So? Probably wouldn't have remembered him, anyway. I was drunk."

Everyone in the group laughed, until Lindsay spoke in response, "Well, try not to get drunk tomorrow night. Too many adults will be there to witness," she warned.

"Tomorrow night?" Aeliana asked, looking at all of them. "What's tomorrow night?"

"The Night of the Comet," Bonnie explained. "It only comes around ever hundred years or so, so the town's gathering in the town square to watch. Caroline, Lindsay, and I are helping with the setup and programs. You wanna help, too?"

Aeliana thought about it for a moment, but there was no need to think it over for a longer time. "Yeah. Sure."

"Aeliana!" The four girls turned around at the name, and Aeliana looked behind her to see Stefan over by his locker, waving her forth. Aeliana turned back to Lindsay, Caroline, and Bonnie and told them that she'd see them later before going in the opposite direction to meet Stefan.

"Hey," she said, greeting him with a warm smile as she approached.

"Hey," he responded. "Look, I just wanted to apologize for last night, you know? I…didn't mean to run off like that."

Aeliana waved her hand. "You're fine," she said, though deep down, there was still this feeling of uneasiness that rippled through her stomach. Again, that pull that she felt towards Stefan tugged, but it was nothing compared to how she'd felt last night. As Stefan shut his locker and they began to walk, she spoke again, "Hey, are you going to this…Night of the Comet thing?"

Stefan shrugged. "Well, I was thinking about skipping it. It's been…a rough week," he admitted, but the truth of the matter was, he didn't want to give his brother another reason to torment him.

"Aw, come on!" Aeliana bumped his shoulder and smiled at him. "It's _got _to be fun, right? Besides, I need someone else there with me. We're a team, Stefan! We stick together!"

"What _team, _exactly, are we on?"

"Oh…you know, the New Kid team."

"Oh, right. Forgot about that one." Stefan inhaled sharply. He began to think it over, but he soon realized that Aeliana would be safer _with _him than _without _him. "All right, _fine. _I'll go with you to the Night of the Comet. But you're driving," he said, pointing at her to indicate his seriousness. Aeliana smiled.

"Doesn't bother me. I just got my car back."

* * *

The day soon came and went quickly, and at the end, Aeliana found herself running into Matt. With consideration, Aeliana asked about Matt's sister calmly, and he answered to the best of his ability. Everyone in this town was kind—unlike Malibu, of course. It was a nice change.

"They're keeping her overnight to make sure she doesn't have an infection," Matt told her as they walked across the campus to the parking lot. "But, luckily, she should be home by tomorrow."

"That's good," Aeliana said hopefully. "Did she remember what happened?"

"Uh…yeah," Matt said, pulling them to a stop. Aeliana raised an eyebrow at his wavering voice. In barely a whisper, he continued, "She said the strangest thing last night. Woke up and muttered 'vampire' and then passed out."

Aeliana raised her eyebrow. "Are vampire attacks normal here or did I just not get the memo?"

Matt laughed. "No," he said, shaking his head. "No, no, they're not…normal, and there's certainly _never _been a vampire attack here. I think she was just drunk," he confided.

"Well, she better have been." Aeliana shot him a teasing smile. "To think, I was just starting to like this town."

Matt laughed again, shifting in his stance as they both stood by each other. But, as time progressed, Aeliana could feel that strange, uneasy settling in her stomach…like there was someone watching her again. Desperately, she looked around, but unlike the first day of school, no one was watching her. As far as she could tell, it was only Matt who was noticing her.

"Aeliana?" She turned around to face Matt, who looked at her with raised eyebrows in confusion. She shook her head, trying to shake off the weird feeling as well. "You okay?"

"Uh…yeah…" she started, but then she inhaled. "Do you ever just get the feeling like someone's watching you?"

"What, like Big Brother?" Matt chuckled. Seeing the stupidity in her statement as well, she laughed along with it, but there was still that unsettling feeling that someone _bad _was watching her. Not Big Brother, but something…weird. Something strange. Her stomach tied in knots that pushed and pulled in every direction, like a compass. "Hey, so are you going to the Night of the Comet tomorrow?"

Aeliana scoffed, pushing the weird feeling out of her mind. "Going? I'm helping with the set up."

Matt smiled. "Well, if you'd like, I can pick you up or something. We can go together," he offered.

Aeliana realized all too quickly what he was trying to do, and with a slight shake of her head, she politely declined. "I'm sorry, Matt. I already said that I'd drive Stefan," she apologized, earning a nod from Matt. "But, look, we can meet up there, right? Grab a drink or something?" she offered.

Matt shrugged. "Sure, that sounds fun. But, uh, I'm going to head out to the hospital to check on Vicki, so…I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah," Aeliana nodded and watched as he walked away from her. To be honest, she could've been taking the invitation in the wrong direction, but she didn't think she did. She liked Matt, sure, he was nice…boyishly handsome, too. But, at the same time, just because she moved to Mystic Falls didn't mean that she was holding a sign up that said "Available and New! Line Up Here!"

Relationships and her _did not _mix.

Friendships, however, friendships were good. Great, actually. You could never have too many friends.

However, Bonnie, Caroline, and Lindsay thought that she was being absolutely ridiculous.

"Matt asked you out and you said no?" Caroline asked, widening her eyes. "He's the quarterback of the football team!"

Aeliana shrugged. "So? He's a _friend_. It's, like, my _third _day here."

"You have to strike while the iron's hot," Caroline retorted pointedly. "Otherwise, you'll just…burn out."

They all sat at the Grill, folding programs and talking amongst themselves. It was an hour after school had let out, but the sun still brightened across the sky. "I'm perfectly happy with burning out, thank you, Caroline."

"So why'd you offer Stefan a ride tomorrow?" Bonnie questioned.

Aeliana frowned. "I didn't _offer, _he told me that if I wanted him to go, I'd have to take him."

Bonnie shrugged. "Still sounds like a date to me." She looked at Lindsay and Caroline. "Don't you guys agree?" In response, both blondes nodded their head and looked back at Aeliana, who groaned.

"Look, it's not, okay?" she said frustratedly, taking out a deep breath while she smoothed the edge of a program. With a sigh, she continued. "Have you ever just…had a connection to someone? Something you can't explain…something…something much more complex than a…_romance?"_

They all blinked back at her, confused.

"I think the term you're looking for is _lust, _sweetie," Caroline filled in for her, but Aeliana shook her head and leaned back in her chair.

"No," she protested, insistent upon shaking her head. "No, it's purely…_platonic _between me and Stefan. But, I don't know, there's something _there._" She looked at Caroline and pointed before she could say anything, "And 'there' doesn't constitute as something romantic. It's not like that with me and Stefan. He's nice, that's all."

Bonnie scoffed. "He's much more than _nice, _Aeliana, he's _hot_."

Aeliana rolled her eyes. "You all are helpless."

"Hey, hey," Lindsay said, taking offense. "I'm on your side! Platonic relationships are…possible," she admitted.

Caroline shook her head vigorously and sat on the edge of her seat. "All right, listen. I'll make this _really _simple for you, okay? Boy likes girl, girl likes boy—_sex_."

Aeliana laughed. "Caroline, not _everything _is about sex!"

"Well, in this town it is," she retorted in a higher tone, which only reserved a shake of Aeliana's head in disapproval. "Unless…" she trailed off, hinting at something. "Have…you…ever…"

Aeliana looked up at her. "I'm not from the medieval times, Caroline. Yes, I have. Once," she clarified.

Caroline widened her eyes. "_Once?"_ she repeated, astounded.

Lindsay slapped Caroline on the shoulder. "Leave her alone, Caroline. Not everyone is as _experienced _as you are."

"Let's move on from this," Bonnie said, shaking her head in disbelief at the wrongness surrounding the conversation. Aeliana gave a sigh of relief as Bonnie spoke, "So…my Grams said that this Comet is a harbinger of evil. Apparently, the last time it passed over Mystic Falls, it created so much blood and carnage that it created a bed of paranormal activity."

"Yeah," Caroline scoffed. "And then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens."

Bonnie and Caroline went back and forth, but now, Aeliana was zoning out. That same feeling of uneasiness washed through her, and she _swore _someone was staring. She looked around her to try and find the culprit, but there was no one watching her from her line of vision. Everyone outside of the Grill was minding their own business, taking no interest in her.

And, yet, she _knew _that there was something terribly wrong.

* * *

Damon lounged on the couch of his and his brother's home, flipping through Stefan's diary carelessly, consuming all of his brother's secrets. He noticed when Stefan walked into the room, and sighed. "Your life is incredibly _boring, _brother."

Stefan walked over to Damon and grabbed the diary out of his hand, and Damon let him with a slight grin on his face. Putting the diary down, Stefan spoke, "You need to compel Vicki, Damon. She remembers what you did to her."

Damon shrugged and forced himself off the couch. "Don't see why that's my problem. Here's an idea, why don't you just go do it yourself?" Stefan's silence was deafening, and it made Damon crack a wide grin on his face. "Oh, _right. _Because you're too _weak_."

"You want her to run screaming 'vampire' through the town square?" Stefan challenged his brother.

"How about she runs screaming 'Stefan's a vampire' through the town square, instead?"

"This isn't a joke, Damon."

"Really? Because I find it extremely hilarious," Damon shot back, smirking widely. Stefan just crossed his arms behind his back and waited for his brother to stop playing such childish games with him once more. It was ironic, since Stefan was the youngest and yet, he was ten years older than Damon mentally. "Relax, Stefan. I'm sure you can take care of things. But feed first. Remember, none of our little tricks work right when you're on the wrong diet."

With a pat on his brother's shoulder, Damon tried to walk away, but Stefan called him back with his voice. "Have you been following Aeliana?" he asked abruptly, making Damon stop in his tracks and turn around slowly.

"Now what would make you think that?"

"She thinks someone's watching her," Stefan filled in, keeping his stance. "Is it you?"

"You think I would be so _immature _to _spy _on a seventeen-year-old girl?" Again, Stefan's silence spoke more than words would have. "It's not me, brother. But…yet…" He inhaled. "If it isn't me, well, then, who is it?"

Stefan stared at Damon, just as Damon stared back with a smile and backed out of the room, leaving Stefan to contemplate the question that he posed.

* * *

School came and went the next day, and soon, Aeliana found the daylight dimming outside and the night rising instead. She heard a doorbell as she got ready, but she knew that Katie would answer it for her since she had asked.

Sure enough, downstairs, a dressed-up Katie walked to the door and opened it for Stefan, who gave her a small smile. "You must be Stefan," she said, holding out her hand across the threshold. Stefan took it modestly and shook the woman's hand. "Stefan…Salvatore, right?"

"Ah, yes," Stefan said, nodding. Katie smiled.

"Katie Barnes, Aeliana's aunt. She's upstairs finishing getting ready. Here, come inside," Katie said generously, opening the door wide for Stefan to come in. The invitation was clear, so it gave Stefan permission to step through the threshold and enter the house. Once inside, Katie called up the stairwell to her niece, "Stefan's here! I'm leaving now."

"All right!" Aeliana shouted back and with a parting to the teenager in her living room, Katie left. A moment later, Aeliana rushed down the stairs, swinging her car keys around her index finger and taking her hair out of the leather jacket she had on over her shoulders.

"Sorry," she apologized to Stefan as she let out a deep breath. "Are you ready to go?" Aeliana asked with a kind smile, trying to get herself together.

Stefan nodded and returned her kindness. "Uh, yeah. Whenever you are," he promised.

Aeliana nodded and opened the door, holding it for Stefan so he stepped out first. After locking the door behind her, they both walked down the stairs from the porch and out to the driveway, where her car far up the flat surface.

"Are you okay, Aeliana?" Stefan asked, fishing for things that he already knew. You've just…seemed so out of it today."

Aeliana sighed, and she braced to tell him what everyone else had not believed. "I just…I feel like there's someone watching me, you know? Following me. It's weird, but…" she trailed off and shook her head. Now that she'd said it aloud, she found the ridiculousness of the statement. "Wow. I _must _be going insane."

"No," Stefan objected. "No, you're not. Have you seen anyone suspicious?" he asked while they made their way over to the car.

"Nope. Everyone seems normal, I just…I think I'm going paranoid," she breathed out, laughing slightly and climbing into the car. Stefan did the same; only he got into the passenger's seat instead of the driver's.

They dropped the conversation after that, but the truth of the matter was, Stefan had realized something very important. If this pull had gotten him _and _his brother to Mystic Falls…

God knows what other vampires would come here, too.

It wasn't long before they were at the town square, where Stefan had gotten the both of them candles that they would light by other people's flames to watch the comet in candlelight. Everyone gathered in the town square and watched as the flaming ball of ice streaked across the sky slowly, letting everyone savor the sight of it.

"Hey, Aeliana." She turned to see Matt approach behind her with an already lit candle. But, she, on the other hand, had no candle to light quite yet.

"Hey," she returned with a smile. "I saw your sister back at school today. Is she okay?"

Matt sighed. "A lot of stitches and no recollection of what happened, but yeah…she's…okay," he admitted. "Although I'm sure she's not happy about the kid medicine they gave her."

"Does it hurt that much?"

"No, but she probably wants something to pop in every now and then," Matt said with a disappointed breath. Aeliana nodded slowly, understanding. "I think the doctors were onto her." Matt shook his head in attempt to stop the conversation while it began. "So, where's Stefan?"

"He's uh…" Aeliana looked around, but instead, caught the sight of someone else that she knew—strictly by memory. Thank _God _she wasn't holding anything in her hand this time.

The guy from the Grill, he walked around the townspeople, dipping in and out of people's heads that created a window for her to see in. Her breath caught as she felt the strangest urge to move towards him—to run at him, really. It was like a magnetic field that tightened her core and made her go weak at the knees.

In all reality, though, she looked just fine. She stood tall, she breathed evenly, and she was serene.

"Aeliana?"

Aeliana was snapped out of her trance when she broke eye contact and the pulling sensation drifted away. "I'm…sorry, Matt. What?"

"Where's Stefan?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Right here." Aeliana and Matt turned their heads to see Stefan approaching them with two candles—one for Aeliana and one for him. "Here you go," Stefan said, extending a candle out for her to take. With a wavering smile, she did, and Matt extended his candle out to light hers.

"Thanks," she said as the flame transferred from his candle to hers. Matt nodded.

"No problem." He looked at Stefan. "I'm going to go check on Vicki. You guys want to meet me in the Grill later on?"

"Sure," both Aeliana and Stefan agreed, and soon after watched as Matt walked in the direction of the Grill. When he was gone, Stefan walked in front of her and knotted his eyebrows.

"You okay?"

Aeliana looked up at him and nodded. For a moment, she thought about telling him what happened, but instead, she smiled. "Yeah, yeah. All good," she promised and tilted her candle towards his to light it. They watched as Aeliana's flame caught onto Stefan's candlewick, and suddenly, it shot ten feet into the air in surprise. Aeliana jumped and shouted at the sudden flame, removing her candle from Stefan's and watching as the orange glow calmed down from its hype.

Once the flame calmed down, Aeliana and Stefan looked up at each other and began to laugh. "That was…" Stefan began.

"Weird," Aeliana finished. "Definitely, _definitely _weird."

With a small smile that Stefan flashed to her, they began to move in the other direction to finally watch the comet, but instead, they bumped into someone as they walked by, Aeliana's candle accidentally falling into the unlit wick of the unknown person's. The flame, again, hiccupped—but this time, it was higher. Hotter. Aeliana sucked in a sharp breath and pulled her candle away immediately, looking up to face a man that she had never seen before in her life.

"Thank you," the man said, giving her a small grin. Beside her, Stefan tensed. He'd been in Mystic Falls for three months now and had never seen this person _anywhere _before. The thought immediately crossed his mind as he saw the flame jump at Aeliana's contact: _vampire_.

Aeliana knotted her eyebrows, but said, "You're welcome." Again, she felt a wave of uneasiness begin to churn inside of her stomach…faster and faster as she stood in the very spot she was placed in. _Get a grip, _something inside of her snapped. _You're being ridiculous. _

With an extra glance to the teenage girl in front of him, the man began to walk away, but when he turned, Stefan's head turned with him to find that the man had a vicious face on—a preying one.

Stefan's stomach dropped as he realized.

He and Damon were not the only ones who had been drawn to this town.

* * *

Stefan had kept an eye on Aeliana all night to protect her from the man that he was _sure _would be coming after her. The truth was, he didn't know how much of a chance he had against fighting this guy, but he would have to try. If his theory was true, then this wouldn't be the only vampire that would come to Mystic Falls.

But he couldn't think so ahead. No. If he couldn't get past tonight, there would be no hope at all for the survival of this peculiar girl. She was powerful, oblivious lamb right in the middle of a lion's den.

The night went smoothly after the whole group had moved the party from outside to inside of the Mystic Grill. Caroline, Bonnie, Lindsay, Aeliana, Tyler, Matt, and Stefan all spent around two hours inside of the Grill, talking and drinking like there wasn't a care in the world. But Stefan kept his eyes mainly focused on the vampire who lurked in a booth, watching Aeliana with intent.

When it was time to leave, Aeliana jerked her head outside. "I'm going to go get the car," she said to him with a small smile. "Meet me outside?"

Stefan nodded, and in a moment, she was gone. When Stefan turned his head to eye the vampire that had been clocking the teenager beside him, he found that he was too late.

The vampire was gone.

Without wasting any time, Stefan quickly rushed out the door, saying a sloppy goodbye to the rest of the humans at the table they were all standing at, and exiting the Grill at the back entrance—the entrance he had seen Aeliana go out of. He could see her for just a moment as she slipped around a corner, but what was even clearer was the vampire that lurked in the shadows. As soon as Stefan was recognized, the vampire barred his fangs and growled.

Stefan copied the motion, letting his face transform into a monster's like the vampire before him. The two of them circled each other in the dark before the vampire lunged towards Stefan and they began to fight.

The fighting was a complete blur—each vampire using their powerful speed as a tactic against the other. But Stefan soon picked up on the fact that this vampire was _strong_—and when he said strong, he meant _strong. _Probably as strong as his brother. And, though Stefan knew that this was a fight that he would most likely not win, he tried his hardest. He was even able to get a few hits in, but then the vampire gained the upper hand and slammed him to the ground by holding his throat so Stefan choked on it. With a raised hand, the vampire braced to plunge it into Stefan's heart, but instead, the hand that kept Stefan pinned to the ground fell weak, and Stefan watched as the vampire on top of him slowly began to desiccate, now deceased.

Standing over Stefan, showcasing a heart in his hand, was Damon.

"Ugh," Damon groaned out of disgust as he threw the heart onto the ground and _tsk_ed. "What a bastard. No one gets to kill my brother but _me_," he said pointedly to the corpse on the floor.

Stefan forced himself up from the ground and watched as Damon began to walk away. "Damon!" he shouted, pulling him back. With an annoyed look, Damon turned around and prompted his brother to speak. "You know you didn't do this for me."

Damon paused, thinking over his response. "You're right," he said simply. "I've decided to stay for a while." He smirked deviously. "And I can't have competition running around, can I? Blood supply is low here. That's why I compelled Vicki Donovan to forget," Damon said, never dropping his smirk. "You _really _need to feed, Stefan. All she needed was a little push and she remembered everything."

"You know that's not the only one coming," Stefan ignored Damon's attempt at riling him up. He stepped closer to his brother. "There'll be more."

Damon took an angry step forward. "And I'll kill _every _single one of them if I have to," he snapped.

Stefan was silent for a moment before nodding. "Thank you, Damon."

"I'm not doing it for you," Damon spat. "I'm not doing it for her, either. I'm doing it for _me_." Damon and Stefan stared at each other in the dark alley, but Stefan didn't seem to give up his hope that Damon _actually _had a heart for a moment, there. With a scoff, Damon turned around, and he disappeared into the night.

* * *

"Aeliana!" Bonnie chased after Aeliana, carrying a jacket in her hand. Aeliana turned around and was stopped by Bonnie's hand, which touched her arm just in time for her to turn around.

"What is it?" Aeliana asked, but Bonnie seemed like she had been frozen still at the touch. "Uh…Bonnie?"

Bonnie suddenly blinked multiple times, ridding her from the sight that echoed in her mind.

"Bonnie!" Bonnie ripped her hand away from Aeliana's arm, earning a concerning glance. "What the…what's wrong?" she asked, seeing the troubled expression upon Bonnie's features.

"Uh…" Bonnie said, trying to form words. She thrust Aeliana the jacket and mumbled with a false smile, "You…you forgot your jacket."

"Oh," Aeliana said, looking down at the leather in her hand. "Thanks—"

"I'll, uh…I'll see you tomorrow," Bonnie said, cutting the conversation short as she turned away abruptly and watched as the images flickered beneath her eyelids again.

Blood.

Ashes.

Destruction.

And that was only the start.

* * *

**So that was a trip. Yes, I kept the Night of the Comet stuff in there, but I decided to discard the Vicki stuff until later. Damon and Stefan's whole "Katherine" debacle will be explained in upcoming chapters. You'll see a lot of familiar stuff, like the Night of the Comet or, in the next chapter, Homecoming. But I've taken away some scenes and, of course, added this storyline where all these new vampires are coming to Mystic Falls. No Stefan/Aeliana in this, but there _will _be someone for him. Can't leave Stefan alone, now, can we? **

**Everything in due time, my friends :) Please review if you can!**

_**Love,**_

_**BellaSalvatore1918**_

_**X**_


	4. Arbitration

**Hi, everyone. Sorry that it's taken me a short while to get this chapter out, and I'm actually super surprised I was able to get it out today, actually. But I'm trying to do what I can this weekend since I'll be gone mostly over the next two weeks. Sadly, this isn't a long chapter so I can't give props to myself anymore. But this is the chapter where Aeliana and Damon finally meet so...enjoy! Let me know what you think at the end of the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter 1**

* * *

_"Wars will remain while human nature remains. I believe in my soul in cooperation, in arbitration; but the soldier's occupation we cannot say is gone until human nature is gone."_

_-Rutherford B. Hayes _

* * *

**Arbitration**

Stefan slipped on his red football jersey over his extra padding, blackening out his vision for a moment while he put the shirt on. When he was embraced with the world again, he could see his brother standing at the threshold of his door, leaning against it strategically. "Look at you! Being all…high school teenage-y."

Damon gave Stefan a signature smirk, but Stefan didn't see anything but his brother's humanity showing. After the Night of the Comet, Stefan was sure that Damon had found some way to regain his humanity again—by helping him. So far, there weren't any signs of another vampire in Mystic Falls lurking around Aeliana, but they could never be too careful. It had been almost a week since that night, and they were being extra cautious. As far as Stefan was aware, Damon hadn't even talked to the girl he was protecting yet.

"It's a football game, Damon," Stefan sighed, pulling the jersey down. "I'm trying to blend in here. It's been a while since I've gone to high school again."

Damon sighed. "Yeah, I never understood that. I mean, I _totally _get college—the sorority girls…the regular girls…the _sorority girls_," Damon gave a blissful smirk. "Man, college is _fun_."

Stefan nodded at his brother, but was curious as to why Damon was dressed to go out somewhere. "Are you planning to go out tonight?" Stefan asked, stiffening. He was always cautious of Damon's eating habits.

Damon opened his mouth and straightened. "Why, _yes, _Stefan." He smiled wider. "I'm going to your football game! Oh, don't look so down, Stefan! Your big brother is going to watch your homecoming game! Go Timberwolves!" Damon pumped his fist in the air teasingly, giving his brother a slightly vindictive smile.

Stefan wrinkled his forehead. "Why?" he asked simply, knowing that the reason Damon was going to the game wasn't just because of his football game. Damon would have to actually harbor a certain amount of humanity to do that—and he hadn't reached that point yet.

Damon pursed his lips, as if contemplating whether or not to lie. "I overheard Aeliana talking about that feeling again. Feels like she's being _watched_." Damon held up his hands in surrender. "It's not me. Promise."

Stefan kept the worried look on his face, despite his brother's attempt at being humorous. "So you think there's another vampire in town again?" he asked, watching as Damon walked over to his desk and began to rummage through the stuff like he'd done the night he arrived.

Damon shrugged. "Probably." He spun Stefan's chair around and plopped down in it. "Ah," he said, sighing in relief as he propped his feet up on the desk. "And, I figured you were going to be busy. You know, throwing around a football and all that? So, I'll go. Keep watch."

Stefan stiffened. "I thought you weren't doing this for her."

Damon shrugged again, carelessly. "I'm not. I'm simply making sure this town doesn't become infested with vampires, and she seems to be a vampire _magnet. _Seriously, I've…never seen anything like it," he muttered, almost off in thought.

Stefan watched as his brother's face turned to something he'd never seen before—scratch that. He had seen it _once _before. It was back in eighteen sixty-four, when he was trying to piece everything together regarding Katherine's disappearance. "Have you talked to her yet?" Stefan asked.

Damon looked up at his brother and shook his head. "No. I didn't see a need to."

"Good." Damon's head tilted at Stefan's reply. "I just don't think it's a good idea. You can just come off very…." Stefan moved his head and strained himself for the right, cautious word. "…strong."

Damon let a smile slowly ghost over his lips. "You're accusing me of the wrong thing, brother. She's a teenager. There are very few underage girls who make their way onto my exemption list." Neither Damon nor Stefan said anything until Damon removed his feet from the desk and resumed a regular position. With a sigh, he continued, "Anyways, I'll let you know what happens with this new vampire once I drive a stake through his heart."

Damon's smile turned into a sadistic one as he got up from the desk and started making his way towards the door when Damon stopped him. "Don't," Stefan warned, shaking his head. "This is a problem, and we need _answers_, Damon. We can't get answers from dead vampires."

Damon raised an eyebrow. "What do we have to ask? We already know what's causing them to come here—_her_. We just kill everyone who tries anything. Problem solved."

"Aren't you the least bit curious about what _they _feel?" Stefan retorted, cocking an eyebrow. Damon fell silent. "_We _feel obligated to protect her, but _they _feel obligated to kill her. There's something going on here, Damon, and we need to figure it out before it ends up hurting her."

A long silence crashed over Damon before he let out a soft chuckle, "_I _don't feel obligated about _anything, _Stefan," he said with another shrug. Stefan sighed and hung his head as his brother brushed past him with a "Break a leg!" behind his shoulder.

* * *

A high school football game was something completely foreign to Aeliana. Academies in Malibu weren't all that into sports that involved an oval-shaped ball and inevitably dirty white pants. They were interested in lacrosse, instead, and she had only been to one game in her entire high school career. So, she wasn't _completely _helpless, but she still had no idea what the hell she was doing.

Caroline and Lindsay, who were cheerleaders on the high school's team along with Bonnie, had roped her into going to this football game. But, there was something strange going on with Bonnie—something that bothered Aeliana. For the past week, she'd been evasive and…sort of _afraid _when it came to her presence. It had all started when Bonnie had touched her arm at the Night of the Comet. Aeliana hadn't been able to put a finger on the source of Bonnie's fear, but Bonnie assured her that there was nothing wrong.

Too bad Aeliana didn't take well to evasive answers.

"Just sit up in the bleachers and try to follow along," Caroline said cheerfully. Caroline, Lindsay, and Bonnie were all dressed in skimpy red, black, and white cheerleading uniforms that completely demolished any school dress code.

"Nobody pays attention to the games, anyway," snorted Lindsay. "Just try and find out who won at the end and you're set."

Aeliana raised an eyebrow. "So what do people normally do while they watch the game, then?"

Caroline and Lindsay looked at each other, a widening look on their faces. Caroline eventually turned back to Aeliana and gave her a smile. "You'll find out soon enough," she promised. But, before she was able to continue, another cheerleader called her over. Without saying anything, Caroline left.

Lindsay turned to Aeliana, "We'll see you after the game," she said sweetly, touching Aeliana's arm lightly before walking off in the direction that Caroline had gone into. Bonnie, who was last, just gave Aeliana a timid smile before tucking her hair behind her ear while she tried to leave.

"Wait!" Aeliana called, stopping Bonnie from leaving. "Bonnie, can't we just talk?"

Bonnie gave a look of confusion. "What's to talk about?"

"Well, you've been acting strange," she said, her face falling. "I…I don't know if it was something I did or…?"

Bonnie shook her head, her lips tight. "Nothing's wrong. I-I've got to go." And, in a hurry, she scurried towards the rest of the cheerleaders, getting lost in the sea of black, white, and red uniforms. Aeliana sighed inwardly to herself and turned in the other direction towards the football field. She saw Mr. Tanner, who was giving a pre-game prep talk to his team, and she slowed as she watched his ending part of his speech before he dispersed them all. She could clearly make out Stefan and Matt in the huddle of players. The pull she felt regarding Stefan had softened by now, since she was around him so often, but it still was…_weird. _But she had a new rule: _stop thinking insane things. _

"Hey, Aeliana!" The girl turned her head to see Tyler Lockwood, the kid she had met the first day of school, jogging up to her from the direction of the main school building. He wiped the back of his mouth with his hand ands he turned to him, attempting to be polite. "I didn't know you were here for the game."

"Oh, uh…Caroline, Bonnie, and Lindsay kind of all dragged me here." She had conversed with Tyler just a few times over the course of the school week here and there. There was something there between them—a form of the pull between her and Stefan—but she just couldn't place her finger on it. "You missed your pre-game prep talk," she accused, pointing to the herd of football players by the side of the bleachers, waiting for Mr. Tanner as he called out names.

Tyler waved his hand. "It's the same one over and over again. The man never comes up with anything original. I wouldn't be surprised if it were from some historical football movie or something," he chuckled.

Aeliana laughed, too. "He's not all that bad. A hard-ass, but not _bad_." Tyler cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, all right. He's an asshole."

Tyler's laugh boomed now. "That he is."

Before he could continue, there was a shout from the direction of the rest of the football players, "Lockwood! Get over here!"

Tyler sighed. "Asshole calls," he murmured, giving Aeliana a slight smile. "I'll see you later."

_Or not, _Aeliana thought to herself, and didn't say anything as he walked away from her. Tyler was…nice and all—actually, maybe he wasn't all that nice to begin with, either. Nice or not, just like she'd said with Matt, "dating" wasn't really her first priority. It was her last, actually. She just couldn't help but find it odd how there were all these different ties to these people.

_Don't think about it, _her mind snapped, trying to enforce her own rule. _You're going insane. _

With a sigh, she turned to the bleachers and began to make headway for it.

* * *

Damon received meaningful glances from pretty little young things all around the high school campus, and he did his best to make them go weak at the knees. It was pathetic, actually, but at the same time, it boosted his already inflated ego. The girls would practically faint with joy upon seeing him walk by, and it gave him the satisfaction he needed to continue on with the day. He had to admit; some of them weren't actually half bad. They might've even made the exemption list like he'd talked about an hour ago with his brother.

Stefan was around the school, roaming somewhere with his needy little high school friends. Damon had one thing on his mind and one thing only—to find out who was stalking the pretty little thing that he actually gave two shits about. It was strange for him to be forced into caring about something in the way that he did, but he did his best to put those strange feelings aside and continue being a dick to his brother and any girl willing enough to fall into his trap.

At first, when Damon arrived to the school, he had his mind set on that very thing that he needed to do, but then, he caught her in his sight. Aeliana Barnes, walking through the lower step of one of the top bleachers, stepping around other students' and parents' feet. She said her polite "excuse me" to each and every one of them and finally sat down in the middle of the third-to-top bleacher, sighing. She tossed her long, lightly tinted brown hair and overlooked the football field. Damon could feel that same, _annoying _pull towards her, and he remembered what Stefan had said just before he came to the school.

Stefan didn't want Damon to talk to her. He thought he would scare her off.

Too bad Damon didn't give a rat's ass about what his brother wanted.

He thought about the consequences for a moment—about what it might do to him if he spoke with her. But, then again, he thought about what an advantage it would be. She _was _beautiful, regardless of the pull that summoned him to her. Would it be so bad if he penciled her name on the exemption list?

He gave a light smirk to himself. _No, _he thought. _No, it would not. _

Damon didn't bother with niceties as he stepped over other students' and parents' feet on the third-to-top bleacher. He situated himself right next to Aeliana, who gave him a sideward glance that he ignored to prompt her suspicions. A link connected them both, but as Damon acknowledged it, Aeliana ignored it in her seat. She could feel the slight magnetic force, but she'd adapted to the way it felt. She found it easy to ignore it, and so she did.

Damon, however, wasn't willing to let her slip out of his fingers so easily. He was going to talk with her, and not only to piss off Stefan, but also to get to know her better. He wanted to know the girl he'd been forced into helping by his own nonexistent feelings.

"You know," Damon began loudly, sighing. Aeliana turned to him at the sound, and he kept his eyes on the football field. "This whole Friday Night Lights thing gets old fast, don't you think?" He turned to Aeliana to make sure she knew he was talking to her, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Well, no one's keeping you here, are they?" she asked, concerned as to why a random stranger was talking to her. "You could just leave."

Damon stared at her, pursing his lips. Her attitude was playful, rude, and worried at the same time. "Actually, my brother's on the football team. Familial obligation." Aeliana just gave him an awkward smile. "You might know him. Stefan Salvatore?"

Aeliana knotted her eyebrows at the name. "Stefan's…brother?" She remembered the first night she talked to Stefan—he had told her that he never talked to his brother. "I thought—"

"That we were estranged?" Damon filled in. Aeliana didn't say anything, but her eyes gave away the answer. Damon sighed. "We're attempting. I just got into town a few days ago. Though this would be the perfect start to a healthy relationship." He smiled. "I'm Damon."

"Aeliana," she returned, though still skeptical.

"Aeliana," he echoed, letting the name roll of his tongue in a different way than she had spoken it. The action made her heart stop beating, because _something _about him just pulled her. It was stronger than Stefan's pull, stronger than whatever she felt regarding Tyler or anyone else she had ever met. It was…it was _power. _

_What an odd thing to think, _Aeliana thought to herself and brushed it off as quickly as it came. "So, Damon, how long are you staying in Mystic Falls?"

"Indefinitely," he answered immediately. "Stefan and I have a lot of catching up to do. He's mentioned you once or twice, I think. Aren't you…in some class with him?"

Aeliana nodded. "Yeah. We're in history together," she said, nodding. It didn't surprise her that Stefan said anything about her—after all, they were hanging out quite often. But, despite Caroline, Lindsay, and Bonnie's observations, it was nothing but platonic.

Damon nodded back. After a moment of silence, he spoke, "So…no _offense _or anything, Aeliana, but what are you doing at a high school football game?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Well, I mean…" Damon straightened and shrugged. "You just don't seem like the type to come to one of these things. I'm assuming you're a student, right?" She nodded. "Any siblings on the team?" She shook her head. "So what is it? Extra credit?" He smiled.

Aeliana tried not to laugh, but a strained one accidentally made it out of her lips. Damon stared at her in wonder as she tried to decide whether or not to trust him. He must've done something right, because she turned to him and said, "My new friends dragged me here. All of them are on the cheerleading squad. They want me to join next year."

Damon smiled. "I don't think I can see you as a cheerleader."

Aeliana scoffed. "I would make a great cheerleader, thank you," she retorted in a higher tone. Damon laughed.

"Nah, I just…I don't see it. Cheerleaders, most of them are so…_vain_," Damon said with a light shrug. She looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

"And what makes you think I'm not?"

"Well, it's not just the fact that I don't see you being vain, I just…if you really wanted to do it, you would be down _there_"—Damon pointed to the incoming cheerleaders in which the crowd roared for—"instead of up here."

Aeliana stared at him for a while, pursing her lips. "You know, you're one _seriously _philosophical guy for a stud in a leather jacket," she returned, judging him just as he judged her.

He shrugged. "I think I'll take that as a compliment." He gave her a smirk, and she couldn't resist but laugh as she turned her head to see Caroline begin the cheering with a perky smile. "Which one's your friend?"

"Friends," Aeliana corrected him with a sigh. He watched as she jerked her chin to the triangle of Lindsay, Caroline, and Bonnie forming separately. Bonnie and Lindsay were the ones holding Caroline up, of course. "The three girls on the far left. That's them."

"Ah," Damon said, nodding when she turned to look at him. "Have you been friends long?"

"Actually, I just moved here, myself," she told him. "I've only been here for two weeks now."

"Where are you from?"

"Malibu."

Damon whistled. "Malibu. Wow. Well, how long are you staying?" Damon asked this time, to which she shrugged.

"The year," she responded. "Possibly senior year if I want to. Not so sure about it, though," she mumbled.

Damon cocked an eyebrow. "Why? Our humble little town too small for a big city girl like you?" He grinned.

Aeliana laughed. "No, it's not that. It's a nice town, I just…" Damon watched with intent as she strained herself for the right word, and eventually gave up. "It's probably better that I don't…"

"Oh, come on," Damon groaned playfully, earning her to move her eyes towards him. "You already started, there's no turning back," he said, giving her a small pout. She stared at him for a moment, but eventually nodded.

"All right," she agreed softly. "It's just, this town is _weird. _Not that the _people _are weird." Aeliana quickly caught herself. "Everyone's so nice here. But…I just have this feeling like…" She turned towards the field again, too afraid to say it herself.

"Someone's watching you?" Damon filled in, leaning towards her in the slightest. She turned her face so that she was inches away from Damon. "Yeah, this town has that sort of effect. It's so small that everyone believes they're being watched. You'll get used to it, though. Promise." It wasn't a _completely _false promise—she would get used to it because Damon and Stefan would help however they could. But there was only so much that they could do for her if this got out of hand.

"You are…" Aeliana trailed off after staring into his eyes, scoffing. "…_weird_."

"Weird?" Damon repeated.

"Weird," she agreed. Damon just smiled. "Like, who just starts a random conversation with a girl he's sitting next to in the bleachers? Unless you're like a teenage molester or something."

Damon was taken back. "Do I _look _like a teenage molester?"

"Actually, _yes. _You're sort of creepy." But she laughed at it, unable to help herself. Damon laughed as well and shook his head.

"Don't worry. I'm not a teenage molester. I just thought you could use someone to talk to." He turned his head towards her and smiled. "Was I right?"

A moment passed between them, a moment of absolute silence that had them both reeling. Aeliana could feel herself begin to slip from her own grasp, but she eventually caught her emotions and stood up abruptly. Damon watched with confusion as she laughed awkwardly. "I'm just…I'm going to go get something to drink."

He stared after her as she said her polite "excuse me" to each and every foot she stepped over and then rushed down the side of the bleachers. When she was out of his sight and he was sure he was out of hers, Damon left the bleachers and continued in her direction just as the football players emerged onto the field and the crowd went wild.

* * *

Aeliana returned to a straightened position from the water fountain inside of the school's building. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand to rid herself of the water that beaded on her lips. Again, that feeling crashed over her like a wave, and she found herself getting tired of it. She thought about what this Damon character had said to her—that people get used to it.

Damon was…special. First of all, who names a kid Damon nowadays? Secondly, he was so forthcoming and direct, which made her completely boggled at the thought of why he wanted to talk to _her. _Third, she wasn't sure if she should feel skeptical or flattered when it came to him.

But she pushed the thought out of her mind, just like she did with the feeling that someone was watching her, and Aeliana began to make her way towards the bleachers again.

When she left, someone emerged from the shadows of the dark hallway that wasn't lit up by the school's faculty for the event. A twenty-something, red-haired vampire stalked out of the shadows and began to walk towards her with caution as she rounded a corner, but he didn't get too close.

Damon made sure that Aeliana was out of sight and out of hearing range when he flashed up to the vampire who had been trailing her and snapped it's neck so that the vampire fell to the floor, unconscious. As much as he hated to admit it, his brother was right—this was getting to be a problem.

And they needed answers.

So, without hesitation, Damon took the feet of the vampire that he had rendered temporarily dead, and pulled the vampire into the room closest to him.

After Damon tied up the vampire in the classroom he had been in front of, he made his way out towards the football field, where certain students were cheering with the cheerleaders and others were just shoving their tongue down another's throat. The second half of the game was fast approaching when Damon came back out onto the field, and he quickly spotted Aeliana in his vision. She was on the bleachers, looking around as if waiting for someone, but eventually, she just sighed and looked around at the atrocities surrounding her. Damon felt his body warm with something unknown to him, but when the buzzer went off for the first half to end, Damon knew that the moment was his only shot.

Damon caught his brother right as Stefan took off his helmet to reveal his dripping sweat. As soon as Stefan saw Damon in his sight, Damon jerked his head to the side and disappeared, hoping that his brother would take the hint.

Sure enough, Stefan emerged from the side of the bleachers where Damon was waiting, still dressed in his sweaty football gear. "What's wrong?" Stefan asked, instantly concerned.

"There was another vampire," Damon said simply. "I tied him up in one of the classrooms. You want to help question this bastard or not?"

Stefan turned to the football field, but then he turned back to his brother and nodded. "Let's go."

Damon brought Stefan into the classroom and, just as they walked inside, the vampire before them began to roll its head as it awakened. Stefan put his helmet down on one of the desks and gave his best broody look as he watched the vampire slowly return to life. "Gah. What did I ever do to you scums?"

Damon sighed. "British. I always hated the British," he mumbled.

Stefan approached the vampire restrained by the tight knots Damon secured the vampire in. "Who are you?"

The vampire stayed silent.

Damon sighed once more and pushed his brother to the side. "All right, if you want to be silent, I can't really make that decision for you. But I can sure change it." He braced himself to punch the vampire, who immediately conceded.

"Hold on! Stop. My name is Colin Walker," he said immediately, flinching away from Damon's fist. Damon relaxed his hand, but not his mood.

"What are you doing here?" he snarled.

Colin shook his head, which was hung. "I…I don't know. I just…I had this dream…"

"Dream?" Stefan reiterated as Damon turned away from the vampire and sighed. "What dream?"

"Let me guess," Damon said, exhaling. "Beautiful girl—the damsel-in-distress type—in flashes, tells you to come to Mystic Falls, right?"

Stefan stared at his brother with confusion as Colin, easily as confused, shook his head. "N-No. I…I was hunting somewhere—Mystic Falls, actually—and I fed on this…girl. Beautiful girl," he added, a pointed jerk of his head towards Damon.

Damon raised his eyebrows. "Well, that's different."

Stefan shook his head. "Did you have a dream about her?"

Damon looked at his brother for just an extra moment before giving a sour expression. "Oh, shut it, Stefan, tonight's not about me." He turned back to the vampire. "It's about _you_. You were following her."

The vampire nodded. "Yes. It's just…her blood—"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's powerful, it's enticing, it sings lullabies to you. I get it." He turned to Stefan. "Can we kill this chump now?"

"Wait," Stefan said, stepping forward. "You…want to _kill _her, right?" Colin nodded. "Why?"

The vampire shrugged. "I don't know, mate! I just want to. Is that a crime? We're vampires, it's what we do."

Stefan turned to Damon at the end of the vampire's sentence and nodded, realizing that there was nothing more to ask. So, with a happy sigh, Damon took the wooden stake he had tucked into his back, and waved it in front of the vampire. "Not these vampires, _mate_," he mocked before giving the vampire a sadistic smile and surging forward, launching the stake into the vampire's heart. Colin gasped, and then he became desiccated in a mere second, the blood from his heart staining the wood of the stake.

"Salvatore!"

Damon and Stefan, surprised, turned around to watch just as the door opened to reveal Coach Tanner walk through and immediately stop at the sight of the tied-up, dead vampire in his classroom.

Stefan could barely get a syllable out when Damon did what he did best. His brother flashed forward, extended his fangs, and ripped out Coach Tanner's neck without a trace of any guilt. Tanner's screams echoed through the hallways of the deserted school, and Stefan knew he was not strong enough to make his brother stop. In just a few seconds, Damon released the dead human so that Tanner's body carelessly slipped to the floor. When Damon turned around, his mouth was stained with blood, and his eyes—which had first held slithering veins—eventually relaxed.

Damon gave a sigh of relief. "That was close." He chuckled.

Stefan stared at Tanner's dead body on the floor, all hope drained from his eyes. "Damon, what did you do?" he whispered.

"I killed two birds with one stone." Damon shrugged. "Covered our secret _and _got a decent meal. Would you look at that?" He smiled, but Stefan found nothing of the situation to be even the slightest bit amusing. Here they were, standing in a room with two dead men.

Wiping the blood off of his mouth, Damon quickly untied the body of the dead vampire in the chair. He picked up the lifeless body and turned to his brother. "I'll take care of this, don't you worry. You've got a game to finish."

"Damon, you _killed _him," Stefan said, shaking his head. "You _killed _Coach Tanner!"

Damon scoffed. "I'm sorry, would you rather have had him run around the town square screaming 'vampire'?" he retorted, using his earlier words. Stefan swallowed. "Deal with it, Stefan. It's a natural way of things around here."

But Stefan didn't think like that. As his brother brought the dead vampire's body out of the school, all he could think about was how he was wrong about his brother. He thought that there was a hope of humanity within Damon, but there was nothing redeemable in Damon, he realized.

The body of his history teacher bled out on the floor, and all Stefan could do was alert the authorities.

* * *

**Like I said, not long at all. Still long for an AU chapter, but not super long. Hope you all enjoyed it, and remember, sort-of radio silence over the next two weeks. Don't worry, though, I still have the weekends and maybe some nights if I don't end up having homework. It all depends on a number of factors. **

**So, yeah, I'll update ASAP! Review if you can. **

_**Love, **_

_**BellaSalvatore1918**_

_**X**_


	5. Toleration

**Hey, guys. Sorry it's been a while since my last update, but here you go. Enjoy! Review if you can at the end. **

**Disclaimer: Refer to Chapter 1**

* * *

"_Toleration is good for all, or it is good for none." _

_-Edmund Burke_

* * *

**Toleration**

With a hand on her hip, a natural habit so that she was aware of her gun, Sheriff Liz Forbes walked up the stairs to the Lockwood Mansion, where she'd been called along with other Council members to the sudden meeting. She, of course, knew what it was about, but for the other members, they weren't as aware. Liz rang the doorbell promptly, and in no time, Carol Lockwood, the Mayor's wife, answered it with a warm smile.

"Sheriff Forbes," she breathed, almost relieved. "Wonderful! You're here. We're just getting started," Carol explained, and gestured inside. Sheriff Forbes took a step through the threshold without an invitation, without a single problem.

After all, _she _wasn't a vampire.

Sure enough, in the parlor next to the door, all of the Council members were sitting on the couches, chatting amongst themselves. Richard Lockwood, the mayor of their humble town, was conversing with the Logan Fell, the town's newsman and member of the council. It was when Carol joined Liz by her side that the meeting started.

Carol clapped her hands together. "All right, everyone. Now that Liz is here, the meeting can begin." Carol turned from Liz to her husband, who stood and walked over to his wife.

"All right." He sighed, but it wasn't out of boredom. Swallowing, Richard spoke clearly, "Sheriff Forbes, my wife, and I have decided to take an initiative against the vampires that have come back to Mystic Falls. In light of William Tanner's death last week, the three of us have taken action and have contaminated the town's supply of water with vervain. Now, hopefully, it won't affect anyone close to us, but it _will _affect a vampire."

"So what if we see a vampire reacting to the water supply?" Logan asked, speaking up for everyone who had that same question. "We can't just stake it out in the middle of the town square—that's too risky."

"You're right," Sheriff Forbes agreed quickly. "It's too risky. What you need to do is call into my department—the Sheriff's department. Either one of my deputies or I will answer and we'll handle the vampire problem with discretion."

"Do we know what the vampires want?" asked one of the other council members, who sat with her husband on the couch in the parlor.

Carol was the one that answered, shaking her head. "No. Not yet. But that's _not _our first priority. Our first order of business needs to be exterminating them. There have already been five deaths and one attack."

"Will it work?" someone else asked, the most dreaded question floating around in the air. "Will our town finally be safe?"

Sheriff Forbes, Mayor Lockwood, and Carol Lockwood all looked at each other, searching for the right answer. Sheriff Forbes took this one, turning to the council member who'd asked the question.

"It'll be safe when they're all dead."

* * *

The sink tap moved water in a circular motion into the cup that Aeliana held under the faucet, collecting the cool water that she had the desire to taste. Her aunt's words were skeptical in the background, full of disbelief.

"Your school is having a cheerleader car wash a week after your history teacher was murdered at the homecoming game?" Katie asked as she studied the poster that Aeliana had given to her. "Okay, is it me, or is that just _messed up_?"

"No, it's messed up," Aeliana agreed, turning off the tap and gripping the glass in her hand, walking to the center isle, where her aunt was perched on the side. "What's even _more _messed up is that Caroline wants me to help. I'm not even a cheerleader," she complained.

"Oh, come on." A smile spread across Katie's lips and she put the flyer down, all dark thoughts of the murder put behind them. "You don't think it'll be fun? I thought they did this all the time in California! Car washes in skimpy bikinis trying to impress all the boys."

Aeliana stared at her aunt with a slight worry. "What do you think we _do _over there for fun?"

Katie shrugged. "Brad Pitt."

At this, Aeliana stopped for a moment and watched as Katie walked over to her bag, and she shrugged in agreement even though Katie couldn't see. Her hand curled around the cool glass of water and she pulled it up to her lips and drank, gulping down a couple sips. Katie sighed.

"Well, it may be a Saturday, but lawyers never rest. People just can't handle their own problems." She turned around at Aeliana. "You'll be okay at this car wash thing, right?"

Aeliana scoffed. "It's not like I'm going to get mauled by an animal in the middle of a car wash while I impress boys with my _skimpy bikini_," she mocked, setting the glass of water down as she chuckled to herself.

Katie nodded. "Uh huh. Okay, then. Good luck with that. I'll see if I can stop by later. Are some of the teachers helping out, too? Male teachers?"

Aeliana thought to herself for a moment before responding. "Actually, I _think _there is one—"

"Ah," Katie stopped her, holding up a hand. "Say no more. I'll be there towards the end."

"But…" Katie began to walk away, so Aeliana called out, "Katie, he's gay!"

"So? A woman can appreciate." Katie shrugged as she turned around and waved. Aeliana just laughed, which earned a smile from Katie as well. "Bye, kiddo. See you later."

"Bye." Katie left promptly, shutting the door behind her, and Aeliana gulped down the rest of her water before placing the dish in the dishwasher, running it, and sighing. She looked over at the clock, gaged her time, and realized she had enough to write in her diary for the morning.

She dressed, wearing what Caroline had told her to—denim shorts, a bathing suit underneath (nothing other than a bikini; those were Caroline's words exactly), and a sheer blue top. Since she was a little crunched on time, Aeliana slipped her flip-flops on, pulled her sunglasses onto her head, and then positioned herself on the window seat and opened her diary.

The pages were crisp; each lined page covered in her neat handwriting in the blue pen she kept handy when it came to her diary. She flipped and flipped until she finally reached a clean page, and she straightened and began to write.

_Dear Diary, _

_You'd think a teacher getting mauled would be cause enough to stop the cheerleaders from holding a car wash at the school, but…well, you'd be wrong when it came to this town. No, Caroline was insistent upon keeping this thing set in stone. Don't ask me why, but all the cheerleaders and football players have to attend. What was weird was that I was obligated to attend, but I guess being in the "in crowd" over here requires your presence at everything. _

_Even though it's been a week, we still haven't gotten a new teacher. We've had to deal with boring old subs for the last few days…and it's excruciatingly painful, might I add. They're mean, nice, oblivious, or just plain old negligent. Not that anyone's complaining, but…when you do nothing for an entire block period, you start to lose your mind. _

She tapped her pen against her diary, thinking of something else to say, but Aeliana was easily sidetracked. She began to flip through the pages of her diary, until one entry caught her eye from a week ago, the night Tanner was killed.

_Dear Diary, _

_It seems vain of me, writing in this thing so soon after something terrible happened. I feel like it was all my fault, but…it wasn't. Apparently, an animal mauled Coach Tanner tonight. I don't know how to react, to be honest. Death was something I'd never had to deal with until this point…really until that car accident. It was never something I'd fully understood. _

_I met someone, though, tonight. I know it seems…strange of me to have met someone on the night of the unusual attack on my teacher, but it's true. I met someone. It's Stefan's brother, actually, which is kind of surprising because I thought that Stefan and his brother were on the outs. He's…quite special. I don't really know how to explain it. Stefan Salvatore is sweet and kind and he makes me smile. But it's nothing more than a friendship, I swear. It's just…with his brother—Damon Salvatore, I feel like I should clarify—it's different. I'm not usually attracted to older men dressed in all black with a stereotypical leather jacket…really, who girl is? But there's something about him. Something dark. Something that bothers me to the very core. I can't…I just can't put my finger on it. _

Aeliana was now tapping her pen against her lips, thinking over her diary entry and how stupid it now sounded. She did that with every diary entry of hers since Sarah's episode. It was jus the feeling of unsatisfaction that every teenage girl experiences from time to time. With some girls, it was the clothes they were going to wear that day. With her, it was how stupid she sounded writing about some hot, older guy who was her new friend's brother that she'd only seen one time.

She scoffed to herself and checked her phone—immediately glad she did. It was just approaching the time that she'd given herself to leave, so without hesitation, she closed her journal, ran up to her room, put the pen and journal in her hiding place, and then quickly went down the stairs, grabbed her car keys, and left the house.

Getting to the school was easy—parking was harder. It was around the time where the car wash officially started, and there were cars already lining up to be serviced. The student parking was obviously in the parking lot, so without further hesitation, Aeliana parked and walked over to Caroline, Lindsay, and Bonnie, who were—as of that moment—setting up the pay station. As she approached the front table, she could see a sign that hung over head, labeled in big letters that spelled out: _Sexy Suds Car Wash!_

"No friend discounts, no freebies, no 'pay you laters'," Caroline scolded Bonnie and Lindsay as Aeliana approached them. "We are _not _running a charity here."

"No we are not," Lindsay agreed, throwing Caroline a smile that Caroline gave back with her own teeth showing. When Aeliana came into Lindsay's sight, the conversation halted for a moment and Lindsay waved her arm over. "Hey!"

Caroline and Bonnie turned around, watching as Aeliana made her way over to them. "Hey," she greeted. "Sorry I'm a little late," she apologized, not giving an excuse for her tardiness. Almost forgetting, she quickly brought her hands to her hair and began to tie it back. "Have we started yet?"

"Yeah, there are a couple cars that are being washed right now," Caroline said and jerked her head to the side. "I'll have you work with Stefan. Stefan!" Caroline shouted, turning her body so that she caught the attention of the green-eyed Salvatore brother who was talking with Matt. Caroline beckoned him over, and Stefan just said something to the blonde quarterback before obliging with Caroline's demands.

In no time, he was standing next to them. "Hey," he said to Aeliana, who gave him a smile, and then Stefan turned to Caroline. "Something wrong?"

"No." Caroline shook her head. "But it's Aeliana's first _Sexy Suds_ wash, and I just asked her to help yesterday." She turned to the light brown-haired girl beside her. "Have you ever even done a car wash?"

Aeliana was hesitant, but eventually answered. "Uh…no," she confessed.

Caroline waved her hand. "I figured that. So, Stefan, if you can help her…that'd be _awesome _and, Bonnie, you can go work with Matt," the perky blonde ordered.

Stefan shrugged and turned to Aeliana, beckoning her to him. "Come on, let's go," he offered, and Aeliana followed him with a parting nod to Caroline and Lindsay. Stefan and Aeliana made their way over to one of the cars, where she sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't know what Caroline's so worried about. It's just washing cars."

Stefan chuckled under his breath. "You'd be surprised at the things Caroline's worried about. If it's not Caroline's way, it's not _the _way." He smiled at her, earning another one back from her wide lips. Stefan was wearing a black hoodie, a chocolate brown t-shirt, and khaki pants—something relaxed for what Stefan Salvatore normally wears. But Aeliana figured that he couldn't wear his regular routine of jeans and a light leather jacket to a car wash.

Stefan bent down and poured a bunch of soap into a bucket, and then he reached down to grab the hose on the ground. Immediately upon contact, Stefan hissed and dropped the hose roughly, holding his hand.

"Are you okay?" Aeliana asked worriedly, moving over to him. Stefan, who was clearly aware that the hose had burnt him in a way it should not have, looked down at it with confusion and then back up at the girl next to him.

"Uh…yeah." He licked his lips, trying to figure a way around the unusual situation. "You know, here. Why don't you do this? I'll…err, observe." Aeliana thought about if for a second but then shrugged carelessly.

It was simple enough, the things Stefan said to her—grab the sponge in the bucket of soap and start washing the car, getting all of the dirty spots off. Don't use too much soap, don't be excessive; just use a normal amount. It was easy, but there was no avoiding the water that soaked her shirt once or twice.

"Hey!" Caroline shouted across the parking lot as Aeliana and Stefan ceased laughing while Aeliana hosed off one side of the car she was working on. The two of them peeled their eyes away from the car and dropped their smiles. Caroline was standing a few feet away with her hands on her hips. "This is the _Sexy _Suds Car Wash!" she pointed out, her meaning implied in the shout.

Stefan and Aeliana turned to each other and Caroline turned away to micromanage some more.

"Did we just get scolded for wearing clothing?" Aeliana asked, her head slightly tilted in Caroline's direction to watch her as the blonde moved.

Stefan nodded beside her. "Uh huh, I think we did." He chuckled and sighed, unzipping his hoodie and putting it on the table that was just a few feet away. Aeliana gave a long, heavy sigh.

"Well, she can suck it," she said pointedly, earning a smile from Stefan as he walked around the nose of the car. "Katie thinks all the Californian teenagers wash cars in skimpy bikinis and if she stops by, I'll never hear the end of it."

"Your aunt is…something special," Stefan admitted, earning a soft chuckle from Aeliana's lips.

"Yeah, she's…uh…she's a young soul," the brunette admitted. "She's a lot younger than anyone else in my family. But she's always kind of been the black sheep."

"Oh?" Stefan asked, surprised. "I mean, she's odd, but she's pretty successful, right?"

Aeliana shrugged. "Sure, in her career. But she was married and divorced in the span of two years. It was at a young age, too, so I guess she felt like the family always looked down on her. And, they do, a little. Try to set her up on dates and all that," she explained. Stefan nodded while watching her dry off the glistening car that was even beginning to dry itself in the noon sun. "But she's great. I actually like living with her. It's fun, as opposed to living with my parents."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You don't like living with your parents?"

"No, it's not that, it's just…" Aeliana trailed off, thinking of a way to put it. But, eventually, she decided upon evading the question—she didn't want anyone to know about the car accident. They hadn't learned about it and she didn't feel like coming clean just yet. Besides, it was no one else's concern. "I just needed some time away. Hey, you know, you should really take that off if you're going to actually participate in this thing." She pointed at the ring on Stefan's right middle finger. "Soap and silver, not a good combination."

Stefan looked down at the ring, and he didn't question the change of subject. His ease into the subject practically made her wipe the sweat off her forehead from the heat of Stefan's question.

"Oh, this? No, it's fine. I…uh, I rarely take it off." He shrugged carelessly, and Aeliana raised an eyebrow at it.

"Is it something important?" she asked, still continuing to shine the car.

Stefan nodded. "Uh…yeah. It's a family crest. Damon has one, too," he added, making Aeliana nod. She had told him about meeting his brother. Stefan, who knew his brother's real intentions, had said something, but Damon did as usual and just brushed it off. "By the way, have you spoken to Damon lately?"

Aeliana looked up at him, confused. "Uh…_no_. He's _your _brother," she chuckled. Stefan chuckled, too, but it seemed like a cover-up. "Is something wrong?"

Stefan raised his eyebrows one moment, and then shook his head. "What? Oh, no. No, no, nothing's wrong." He cleared his throat. "I, uh, I just thought I'd ask. Damon can be persistent."

"Persistent? That, mixed with his image, doesn't give me a pretty one."

"You don't…need to worry about Damon, he'll be fine, he's just…" Stefan sighed, trying to search for the right words. Aeliana tried to shine the car more, waiting for Stefan's response. "Special," Stefan responded lightly, making Aeliana chuckle.

"Yeah, well, I guess we both have those family members, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess we do."

"Stefan!" The teenager threw his head in the direction that his name was being called to see Lindsay beckoning him over. Stefan turned back to Aeliana, who sighed and took a step back at their first complete car.

"I'll be right back," Stefan said to Aeliana, who nodded and just shined another spot on the car. Seconds after Stefan had left Aeliana for Lindsay, Caroline walked up to the girl and jerked her head to another spot.

"Sexy Camaro to the right needs his car washed," Caroline said, crossing her arms. Aeliana looked over at the Camaro, but she couldn't see the owner of the vehicle. Probably went to pay and wait for the car to be done. "Go on, this car's done anyway."

Aeliana was confused, but she was forced to listen to Caroline's directions. With a sigh, she walked over to the light blue 1969 Chevy Camaro with the bucket of soap in her hand. It sloshed over the top a bit, but most of the water stayed inside, of course. Aeliana was only glad that she remembered to put her hair up before she started washing cars. Her back-length hair wouldn't take well to soapy water dripping off the ends.

She put the bucket down once reaching the car that Caroline called "sexy", which she could agree with in the slightest. Copying her movements from before when washing the car with Stefan, she bent down and pulled out the sponge, wringing it so that there wouldn't be an excessive amount of water used.

"You know, you wearing a shirt defeats the purpose of a 'sexy' car wash." A voice startled her as she stood up, holding the sponge in her hand, and Aeliana jumped in the slightest. Leaning against what was beginning to seem like his car, was Damon Salvatore. A light, playful smirk sat upon his lips. "Or was the sign meant to be misleading?"

Aeliana put the sponge down on the hood of the car and began to rub it in circles. "Everyone else can be sexy, Damon, but it doesn't mean I have to be." She smiled lightly at him. "Remember, I'm not a cheerleader."

"No, you are not," he agreed, standing up and walking just the slightest distance to watch her as she washed his car. "I came to see my brother. Support the cause and all that."

Aeliana looked up at him. "Stefan should be here in a minute or two. He's just talking to Lindsay."

"Mm," Damon mumbled under his breath. "Well, hopefully he'll take more than a few minutes."

Aeliana glanced up at him to meet his playful gaze, but then, she ripped her eyes away from his and turned back to the soap bucket. "You know, you don't have to hover. All the other drivers are just waiting in the parking lot for their cars."

"What if I want to hover?"

"Then I'd _politely _ask you to not."

"Are you always so polite?"

"Are you always so strange?"

Damon pursed his lips at her rebuttal, and then he shrugged. "Point taken," he conceded. "So how are you adjusting to our boring little town? Get over the someone's-watching-you feeling?"

He was fishing, but from the look on her face, he could tell that she wasn't aware of this. Aeliana was thinking about that feeling that she'd had once or twice over the silent week, but she'd been able to control things by no intention of her own. The more she was around Stefan, the lesser that feeling of magnetism became. With Damon, though, it was much different. It was a form of magnetism that was so violent, it made her think things that she immediately pushed out. It didn't help that he looked like he just stepped out of a silver screen.

She nodded silently. "Yeah." Aeliana's hazel eyes moved up to capture his crystal blue ones. "Why do you care?"

Damon looked taken back. "Am I not allowed to ask a question?"

Aeliana sighed. "You _creep _me out," she accused him, shaking her head and moving back to the car. "What are you even doing here, anyway?"

"I told you," Damon countered with a shrug. "I came to see my brother." Aeliana gave a frustrated sigh, and Damon straightened. "You know, you're pretty odd yourself."

"How am _I _odd?"

"You're the one all mysterious and sulky," he accused her pointedly with a small smile. He felt something he'd never felt before wash over him like a wave—amusement that was so pure and gentle he didn't know how to describe it. "I still don't get it, a big-city girl like you in a small town like this one."

The teenager shrugged. "Something happened in Malibu that made me move to Mystic Falls. It's not really any of your business."

"I'd still like to know." He paused and then held up his hands. "Unless you'd prefer I not pry. After all, I…_creep _you out."

She studied him for a while and his amused, yet perfectly sane expression, and she debated upon telling him the truth for a split second. But how insane would she sound if she went around telling people her best friend went mental after getting into a car accident caused by her?

But Damon wasn't one to give up, she soon realized, and she wanted to at least get some of the story off her chest. She'd been bottling it up ever since her arrival to Mystic Falls, and something about Damon drew her instantly. It was like he had her under a spell, a devious one.

"I got into a car accident," she admitted, now moving across the windshield while she continued washing his car. Damon's amused expression quickly dropped. "I guess it was too much for my parents and they ended up asking me if I wanted to go to Mystic Falls this year for school. I didn't really feel like being around them so…I took them up on the offer."

It was the truth but a lie at the same time. A complete contradiction. Damon fell completely silent while she moved onto the hood and began to rub in the soap quicker so that she would get the car over with. It was more distracting when she was speaking, she realized, or listening. It was good to wash a car without distractions—you could get it done faster.

But, her silence was ruined. "That's…terrible." Damon said to her, but she didn't look up at him. She was cleaning the car doors, making her way to the trunk. "Was there anyone else involved in the accident?"

Aeliana nodded and cleaned the taillights. "Yeah. Two boys and my friend. The guys were killed on impact and my friend…well, she's still back in Malibu." In a mental hospital, but back in Malibu nonetheless.

She was over on his side now, the soap just about to run out. Aeliana glanced up at him to find no expression of amusement in his eyes, and then she walked around him to dip the sponge in the water, all while hearing his murmur behind her.

"Who was driving?"

Aeliana thought to herself—wondering if she should lie or not. But there was something inside of her aching to tell the truth to him. She wanted to trust him, for some unknown reason. Her mind said jackass but her gut said trustworthy. It was conflicting and quite dizzying.

She pulled herself up from the balls of her feet and then cleaned Damon's side of the car, moving forward so that he stepped back and watched as she dragged the sponge across the car and rubbed it in.

"I was." Aeliana cleared her throat and watched as a confused and sorrowful expression crossed Damon's face, and she nodded towards the hose behind him. "Do you mind grabbing that?"

Damon was hesitant, but he turned around and nodded, bending down to grab the hose just a few feet away from his foot. But the second his fingers touched the water-soaked hose, he hissed, muttered a curse word, and pulled away, astonished.

"What's wrong?" Aeliana asked, putting the sponge down in the bucket and walking over to him, confused. It burned both Salvatores? Were they allergic to a hose?

"N-Nothing," Damon stuttered, rising to his feet. "I…I just, I have to go."

"Well, wait a second—"

Damon turned around at her sharply, his eyes cold and hard staring into hers. His pupils dilated, and as he spoke his melodic words, he expected the compulsion to be kicking in.

"I've got to go. I'll see you around sometime, Aeliana, but for now, I'd just like you to get back to washing cars."

She watched in complete and utter confusion as Damon pulled away, the soap already beginning to dry as a result of the hot sun, but she didn't understand it. He was so…hypnotic in his words, but yet, she didn't fully understand that. His eyes did something weird…like they were trying to get hers to pull into him or…something.

_I'm going insane, _the words murmured in her mind, and she turned around, shaking her head, returning to the jumble of high school teenagers still washing cars.

Across the street, Logan Fell, the news reporter who was covering the small-town sob story of high school teenagers banding together in time of desperation over the death of their History teacher, stood baffled and confused as to why a person out in the day would be so affected by grabbing a hose soaked in vervain water.

There was only one possibility, which seemed impossible to him, since none of the journals mentioned anything about what he was thinking.

A day walker.

* * *

"Vervain," Damon snarled to his brother once they were both home. He could still feel the slight burn from earlier when touching the hose, something that had burnt his brother as well. "They contaminated all of the _fucking _water with vervain."

"Damon, calm down," Stefan murmured as he shook his head that was placed in his hand. "I took a shower this morning. Obviously, it's not affecting this house."

"Yeah, but you forgot one thing, Stefan! It's affecting my _food._" Damon slammed down a glass of bourbon and then slammed the glass down on the alcohol tray.

"Then go on blood bags," Stefan suggested, actually quite fond of this new predicament. If it meant his brother would stop feeding on humans, it could potentially be a positive thing.

"You've forgotten the most important part, Stefan! One bucket of water thrown on us like the Wicked Witch of the West and we're toast! Cover—_blown_! This town has already gone through one vampire barbeque! What makes you think they won't do it again?"

"Damon, I don't know what you want me to say!" Stefan raised his voice, throwing his hands up and looking to face his brother. "They already contaminated the water supply. All we can do now is avoid it. Make enough sense for you?" Damon bit his tongue to refrain from yelling at his brother. "Unless you'd like to leave, because I'm all for it."

Damon laughed bitterly. "Not a chance in hell, brother."

Stefan swallowed. "Fine." He moved forward to brush past his brother. "Then deal with it."

And, with that, Stefan brushed past his brother and left his own room to be rid of the persistent Salvatore. Damon stood in Stefan's room, thinking to himself what a mess he'd gotten into, but then he thought of earlier and how the balance of suffering and reward was starting to equal out.

* * *

**Next chapter should be up soon, but I have finals starting the end of this week and into the next three days of next week. After that, though, I'm pretty much free so I'll come back around to this story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Review if you can. **

_**Love, **_

_**BellaSalvatore1918**_

_**X**_


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